Bristol Bears swept aside Bath Rugby in their Premiership Rugby Cup clash 61-19 at Ashton Gate on Friday night in a ruthless attacking display that left the visitor’s defence struggling to keep up.
The hosts ran nine past the Blue, Black and White, scoring the most points over their derby rivals in the 250th meeting between the two clubs.
Bath scored three tries of their own, but it simply was not enough to overcome their lacklustre first half defensive performance.
As Bath try scorer scrum half Joe Simpson so aptly put it after the match, 'everything after going 40-0 down is a consolation.''
Bristol were ruthless in their uncensored demolition of Bath’s limp defence in the opening half, with the visitors offering little to no resistance of any form, cut to shreds by playmakers Piers O'Conor and Tiff Eden, and their counter-attacking abilities from turnover ball, of which there was plenty with Dan Thomas put his hand up for a first-team return.
O’Conor’s quick pass put in outstanding loan signing Rich Lane from short range to open the score, before Bristol doubled their lead with a silky move that started with a Tiff Eden offload on the 22, and ended all the way on the opposing line with the aforementioned O’Conor’s inside pass putting in the supporting Jack Bates.
The hosts then asserted their physical dominance over the Bath pack as the forwards mauled over to allow Bryan Byrne to touch it down.
Lane’s interception of a careless Max Ojomoh pass saw the fullback go clear, while Gabe Hamer-Webb’s rapid trackback to floor the streaking 28-year-old was mightily impressive, it proved futile as an offload to Niyi Adeolokun saw the winger go over.
The Irishman added another minutes later as a mammoth overlap was exposed in the wide channel, with a beautiful looping Eden pass putting him in uncontested.
The Bears once again showcased their dominance of the Bath pack by heaving over from around 15 metres out, as Dave Attwood got the ball down.
After being run ragged for 40 minutes the visitors at last got something to cheer about when first team debutant Mackenzie Graham caught the host’s defensive line napping to storm over without challenge as the half time whistle was blown.
Bath used their momentum to continue the onslaught once the teams had returned to the field for the second 40, as Tom Prydie put Joe Simpson into space and the electric scrum half darted down the line to score in the corner.
Prydie himself touched down, as a flowing pass from first-time captain Orlando Bailey found him out wide to score.
Bristol responded with confident attack, calmly making their way up the field before replacement George Kloska’s pick, drive and reach saw the ball touch the white line to extend their lead.
Mitch Eadie scored next for the hosts, shoving aside George Worboys with ease to charge over for a five-pointer after a monster 30 yard carry down the touchline thanks to a defence splitting pass from Eden.
O’Conor grabbed the final try of the game, as he and flanker Thomas beautifully re-arranged into attacking formation in Bristol’s own 22 to have a richly deserved clear run in from their half.
Despite some pressure in attack from the visitors, Pat Lam’s side saw off the game with relative ease as they put themselves in contention to reach the semi-finals with a game to come at home against Gloucester later this month.
While the result is largely insignificant for Bath’s Premiership Rugby Cup hopes, it undeniably gave their pride a knock, as defensively they just were nowhere near competitive today, which made all the worse as the teams looked relatively balanced on paper before kick-off.
The victors will now look ahead to a clash with Saracens at the StoneX next Saturday in the Gallagher Premiership, while the defeated Bath will be visited by Sale Sharks at The Rec.
Bristol Bears: 15. Rich Lane, 14. Niyi Adeolokun, 13. Jack Bates, 12. Piers O’Conor, 11. Matthew Jones, 10. Tiff Eden, 9. Theo Strang; 1. Ashley Challenger, 2. Bryan Byrne, 3. Jake Armstrong, 4. Dave Attwood, 5. Ed Holmes, 6. John Hawkins (c), 7. Dan Thomas, 8. Mitch Eadie.
Replacements: 16. Will Capon, 17. Tom Sims, 18. George Kloska, 19. James Dun, 20. Macennzie Duncan, 21. George Taylor, 22. Jac Lloyd, 23. Harry Rowson
Bath Rugby: 15 Darren Atkins, 14 Tom Prydie, 13 Jordan Venter, 12 Max Ojomoh, 11 Gabriel Hamer-Webb, 10 Orlando Bailey ©, 9 Joe Simpson; 1 Lewis Boyce, 2 Tom Doughty, 3 Ma’afu Fia, 4 Will Spencer, 5 Josh Dingley, 6 Mackenzie Graham, 7 Richard de Carpentier, 8 Nahum Merigan
Replacements: 16 Jacques du Toit, 17 Arthur Cordwell, 18 Kieran Verden, 19 Valery Morozov, 20 Harry Casson, 21 Ollie Fox, 22 George Worboys, 23 Will Butt
Referee: Dan Jones
Assistant referees: Paul Dix and James Clarke
