Bristol Bears stormed to an eight-try win over Sale Sharks to stay in touch with the play-off spots in the Allianz Premier 15s
After a crushing away loss to Harlequins to end 2022, the Bears bounced back with an attacking showcase in their first game of 2023. Dave Ward’s team took the full five points in tough weather conditions to keep pace in the top four, four points adrift of Harlequins in third.
Breaks from Claire Molloy and Phoebe Murray set up Kiera Bevan for an early brace of tries, putting Bristol in control at Shaftesbury Park.
A reply by Sharks number 8, Alycia Washington, was quickly cancelled out by a piece of Bears magic. Eleanor Snowsill’s restart kick was inch-perfect for Murray to regather cleanly and break away to put Grace White into the corner.
Lark Davies then continued her try-scoring form in her debut Bears season, pushing over from a driving maul. Amy Coles followed up with a swift run-in shortly before the break. Bristol went into half-time 29-7 ahead.
Sale got an early score in the first half and were pushing to get back into the game. But Bristol showed dominance from forwards and backs alike to seal the win with three tries in the final 15 minutes.
Davies crossed for her second of the afternoon. The England international now has five tries from her three games with the Bears since joining from Loughborough Lightning, scoring in all of them. Amber Reed and Reneeqa Bonner got the late scores.
Bevan commended Bristol’s progress and commitment to Dave Ward’s attacking game plan as she said: "We want to play expansive rugby and keep the ball in hand as much as possible.
"Obviously, the conditions played a part and we had to kick a little bit more. But I think we adapted really well to the conditions and managed to get some good tries on the board."
Ward praised the Bears’ attitude but highlighted his defensive concerns after the game. "We’ve got to be a bit harder to score against – let’s be frank," he said. "If we are that defensively frail next week against Exeter, it will be a different result."
He also highlighted Courtney Keight’s role at full-back after a Player of the Match performance. "Her command of the backfield, her beating of the first defender just puts us on the front foot and triggers our whole attack."
The Bears will head to Sandy Park to take on Exeter Chiefs, who sit second in the table, next weekend.
"Exeter are one of the in-form teams this season," said Ward. "We’ve gone down there for two semi-finals and lost both. We’re gonna have to somehow work out how to go down there and win on the other end."
