Bristol Bears’ hopes of landing a top four spot in the Allianz Premier 15s took another hit as, despite a spirited second-half comeback, they succumbed to a third straight loss at the hands of unbeaten Gloucester-Hartpury.
The Bears showed a gutsy start with Gloucester-Hartpury camped down on the 5-metre line at Shaftesbury Park hunting for an early opening score in the first 10. Bristol showed their midweek work to stop every phase of the onslaught on the line and Keira Bevan capped off a great defensive set, plucking the ball from a rogue pass and running 70 metres back to the other half.
But the league leaders were keen to prove their undefeated status. The Bears were struggling to contain the Gloucester-Hartpury wingers, who were opening up space whenever they wanted. They were in their attacking groove crossing for two tries in quick succession from Emma Sing and Rachel Lund. The opening grit was suddenly gone and it was 12-0 to the visitors.
Bristol eventually found a period of dominance but were lacking the invention to find a way past Gloucester-Hartpury’s ultra-aggressive defence. Dropped passes and big tackles were frustrating the Bears in a great spell of 10 minutes in the opposition’s 22. Finally, the break came as they moved cherry and white shirts from coast-to-coast for Simi Pam to run a hard line through the middle to get Bristol back in the game.
The fight was short-lived though as they couldn’t back up the hard work in attack with their defence. The visitors were quickly back into the Bear’s half and just three minutes after Pam’s score, Gloucester-Hartpury targeted their favourite right wing again for Ellie Rugman to add another try to her tally. 19-7 at the break.
Dave Ward’s half-time chat must have been a belter as Bristol showed they wanted to come out of the shed matching the aggression. Pam put in a thumping tackle to give the hosts the opportunity to kick into the 22 and the change from the first 40 was on full show.
Strong lines were slowly breaking Gloucester-Hartpury down, before captain Amber Reed could spot the smallest of gaps and break through a few tackles on her way to the line and Bears were back in the contest three minutes after the break.
Roles were suddenly reversed with Bristol now the side brimming with confidence, always looking for the offload and slipping off defenders at ease. Cue Sarah Bern… a steal at the Gloucester-Hartpury line out and a 40-metre run down the middle of the pitch.
Bristol won the penalty, took the line out, and normal service was resumed as Lark Davies added another try from the rolling maul. Elinor Snowsill couldn't quite add the extras and it was a two-point deficit with 25 to go.
It was an old-school tussle in the middle of the pitch for the rest of the match and defence proved the name of the game. But the Bears’ had the best chance to take the match on 65 minutes. A lineout on the Gloucester-Hartpury 5-metre line started rolling but Davies fell inches short of getting her brace, and a penalty ended the attack just a phase later.
It was a strong, brave performance in both attack and defence for the Bears against a Gloucester-Hartpury team that is now 10 from 10 in the league. But that won’t be enough for them. A season that had begun with high hopes with six wins in eight matches in 2022 now sees Bristol in a scramble for results having now only won one from four in 2023. Big wins against Worcester and DMP Sharks will be needed in the coming weeks.
"I thought the performance was outstanding," said head coach Dave Ward. "I think we ruffled their feathers, which is exactly what we wanted to do. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t quite get it over the line.
"We’ve got to tidy up. We had a couple of line outs that maybe didn’t quite go right by the try line, that if we had scored, we would’ve won the game. But I can’t say too much, cos I thought the girls were fantastic."
And there was a lot of praise for the captain. "We put a lot of pressure on Amber to perform, and the fact that she performs week-in week-out, we’re hugely pleased to have her. It can only be good for her England selection ahead of the Six Nations," Ward added.
