Bristol Bears opened their 2022/23 pre-season programme with a defeat away in France to Top 14 side Brive.
A side lacking many of the Premiership club’s big guns, some of whom are likely to get their first run out next week away at the Dragons in the second of three planned pre-season games, were beaten 22-17 at Municipal Stadium in Saint-Affrique on Friday night.
Amongst the starting side for Bristol, which was full of proven Premiership performers, were two stars of the club’s academy championship-winning U18s side of last season who were given an opportunity to shine in the senior side in key positions, in fly-half Sam Worsley and number eight Ed Harvey.
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But it was former Wallabies international Luke Morahan who stole the show off the bench for the Bears with a stunning 50m solo try to remind everyone of his quality with rivals for his place in Bristol’s best starting XV arriving this summer in the form of the elusive, hot-stepping Gabriel Ibitoye who did not travel as part of the 36-man squad.
In a perfect illustration of why pre-season friendlies are so important, Bristol went in scoreless at halftime, down 19-0 after tries from centre Nico Lee, number eight Abraham Papali’i and full-back Thomas Laranjeria.
Ten minutes into the second half replacement Matthew Jones touched down in the corner to get the Bears off the mark and as so often is the case with Bristol during Pat Lam’s reign, the away side struck again quickly, crossing the line just two minutes later through scrum half Tom Whiteley, fresh back from surgery on his hamstring.
New centre signing James Williams, who is also an experienced operator at fly-half, added the conversion to make it a one score game before Brive extended their buffer to 10 points with a penalty.
Morahan struck for Bristol’s third of the night to leave the scoreline looking far more respectable than at halftime but with a healthy reminder there is plenty of work to be done before the Bears kick off the Premiership season at home to Bath Rugby on September 9.
Bristol Bears: 15 Rich Lane, 14 Toby Fricker, 13 Jack Bates, 12 Ioan Lloyd, 11 Henry Purdy, 10 Sam Worsley, 9 Andy Uren, 1, Yann Thomas, 2 Will Capon, 3 Jake Armstrong, 4 Moran Eames, 5 John Hawkins, 6, Macenzzie Duncan, 7 Dan Thomas ©, 8 Ed Harvey.
Replacements : Aristot Benz-Salomon, Jonathan Benz-Salomon, Martin Mulhall, George Kloska, Jake Kerr, Bryan Byrne,Charlie Rice, Joe Owen, Ed Holmes, Jake Heenan, Aaron Tull, Sam Lewis, Tom Whiteley, Oscar Lennon, Jac Lloyd, TJ Wilstead, James Williams, Joe Jenkins, Matthew Jones, Luke Morahan, Harry Rowson.
Brive: 15 Thomas Laranjeira, 14 Axel Muller, 13, Guillaume Galletier, 12 Nico Lee, 11 Kevin Fabien, 10 Enzo Herve, 9 Paul Abadie, 1 Nathan Fraisenon, 2 Vano Karkadze, 3 Wesley Tapueluelu, 4 Renger van Eerten, 5 Oskar Rixen, 6 Sasha Gue, 7 Matthieu Voisin, 8 Abraham Papali’i.
Replacements: Daniel Brenna, Lucas da Silva, Motu Matu’u, Marcel van der Merwe, Pietro Ceccarelli, Francisco Coria-Marchetti, Arthur Bruges, Joeli Matalaweru, Noe Bedou, Esteban Abadie, Enzo Sanga, Tanguy Lacoste, Tom Raffy, Sammy Arnold, Setareki Bituniyata, Joris Jurand, Mathis Ferte.
Referee: Luc Ramos
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