After a strong win against Newcastle Falcons last week Bristol Bears picked up their second win in a row as they scraped past Bath with 15-13 victory at the Recreation Ground.
One try from each team saw a very low-scoring first half. Bristol inside centre James Williams crossed the line after some Semi Radradra magic and Miles Reid drove over from close range to push Bath into the lead at halftime and five points from the boot of Piers Francis.
The Bears flew out the blocks early in the second half to send Siva Naulago over in the corner to retake the lead and then Francis and MacGinty traded penalties to see Pat Lam’s men secure the win.
Rugby reporters Harry Royle and John Evely take a closer look at the individual performances from the Bristol Bears players:
15. Charles Piutau - 7
Looked dangerous every time he touched the ball whether it was stepping, offloading or fending off Bath players he was causing havoc for Johann van Graan’s defence. However, he went MIA in the second half with him barely getting the ball.
14. Siva Naulago - 7
Almost set-up the Bears' second try after charging down a Piers Francis kick and then tapping it back to Harry Thacker…however the tap back was deemed incorrectly to be a knock-on. He finished his try off in a very nonchalant fashion, stepping in to out to leave Matt Gallagher in his rear-view mirror. However, he did show some signs of rustiness dropping a couple passes that he really should’ve caught. Legal with all his tackling having been red carded on his last visit to the Rec.
13. Semi Radradra - 9
By far the best player for Bristol and the best player on the pitch.
Ran a sublime line to split the Bath guards and then finished his line-break off with a perfectly timed offload to James Williams who went onto score Bristol’s first try of the game. Didn’t break stride as he threaded a lovely pass to Naulago who scored the Bears' second try, and then threw another perfectly weighted pass to his Fijian teammate but Naulago couldn’t keep hold of it.
A couple of crunching tackles as well.
In this mood he makes the game look so easy.
12. James Williams - 7
Showed great rugby IQ for his try as he recognised Radradra had spotted a gap in the Bath defence and ran the perfect support line, taking the offload cleanly and showing good strength to touch down for his first Premiership try on his birth.
After that he got on with his job without really threatening the Bath defence at all but was superb in defence.
11. Gabriel Ibitoye - 5
A nice offload released Harding down the line and he came up with great try saving tackle on Max Ojomoh in the corner while making a couple of metres here and there but never really got a chance to stretch his legs fully.
A couple of a really poor kicks saw him get charged down and then put on out straight on the full, both times piling the pressure on his side.
10. AJ MacGinty - 7
The USA international was a constant running threat with ball in hand.
He sliced through the Bath defensive line like butter as he got the Bears on the front-front in the build up to Naulago’s try. Got yellow carded early in the second half for not rolling away and cost his team the lead temporarily but the sin-binning was more for an accumulation of offences by the visitors who were on the wrong end of the penalty count all night.
9. Harry Randall - 7
Neither him or Spencer seemed to be on their A game tonight with the Bears attack struggling to really shift through the gears but his ability to zip the ball out wide from the base of the ruck allowed Bristol to attack wide than Bath's most guarded area - one such pass put Radradra through a gap in the build-up to Williams' try.
Ran a nice inside line for MacGinty to keep the momentum going in the build up to their second try on a big personal milestone of a night as he captain the club for the first time.
1. Yann Thomas - 7
Gave away a penalty on Bristol’s line which led to a Bath tap and go, as a result of this Miles Reid scored a few phases later.
But my word didn't he scrummaged well, including a defence part of the match against England star Will Stuart who was unable to give Bath the boost they were anticipating. He was the neutraliser and got around the park well.
2. Harry Thacker - 6
Scored a disallowed try which should’ve stood however, Matthew Carly had made his mind up. Had some skilful touches throughout the game but went missing at times, however he did a much better job than Niall Annett at lineout time and made 15 tackles.
3. Max Lahiff- 8
The former Bath man was nothing short of mighty in the scrum. On paper the hosts should have had a significant advantage in the scrum with Lahiff matched-up against Beno Obano but that was not what transpired on the night as the England international loosehead had very little joy at the coalface.
4. Joe Joyce - 67
Playing in his final derby game and coming back from injury to do so, the big lock made some powerful runs and kept the ball alive with some accurate offloads.
5. Chris Vui - 6
It was the lock's 100th appearance and what a forgettable game it ended up being. Produced a couple of nice offloads and got through his forward work but that was about it.
6. Sam Jeffries - 6
First game back since getting injured in September and what a poor game to make his return, much like the majority of players didn’t do anything really bad but didn’t do anything well. Made 14 tackles and lasted the game.
7. Fitz Harding- 7
One the livelier forwards on the pitch especially with the ball in hand as he was seen jetting down the tramlines a couple of times. What his best position in the backrow is still unclear.
8. Magnus Bradbury - 6
Did his best to slow Bath’s already slow ball down, but in his eyes an under par performance from the Scottish international.
Replacements:
16. Bryan Byrne - 6
17. Jake Woolmore -6
18. George Kloska -7
19. Jake Heenan -6
20. Sam Lewis n/a
21. Andy Uren- n/a
22. Sam Bedlow- n/a
23. Ioan Lloyd – n/a
