Bristol Bears survived a late scare to keep their hopes alive of making the last 16 knockout rounds of the Champions Cup with a 35-29 win over Benetton Rugby at Ashton Gate on Sunday.
The Bears crossed five times, twice through Kieran Marmion and once each though James Wiliams, Max Lahiff, Harry Thacker to earn the vital attacking bonus point, but the Italian side also scored five tries through Rhyno Smith, Manuel Zuliani, Matt Gallagher, Bautista Bernasconi and Tommaso Menoncello to not only secure their own attacking bonus point but also a losing bonus point to give them the edge in the Pool 2 standings. Bristol now need to win, or draw at Clermont to advance.
READ MORE: Bristol Bears 35-29 Benetton Rugby LIVE: Full highlights and reaction from Ashton Gate
Despite an early injury setback that saw Joe Batley limp off on his return from injury, Bristol opened the scoring after eight minutes with Williams at the heart of things. First the centre made a huge carry from a long throw at a lineout midway in the Benetton 22 and then moments later Marmion pulled a pass back to put Williams over under the sticks, making the conversion easy work for Harry Bryne on his home debut.
But Benetton hit straight back with Argentina fly-half Tomas Albornoz pulling the strings, double pumping to suck in a couple of Bristol defenders and draw Benjamin Elizalde out of shape in the defensive line before releasing a pass for Smith to score. The conversion attempt from Albornoz was less impressive, crashing into the upright from close range.
With the scoreline continuing to see-saw, Bristol crossed for their second of the contest thanks to outstanding work from hooker Harry Thacker who bounce out the tackle of Benetton captain Michele Lamaro and then evaded another two attempts to bring him down before offloading to Marmion who couldn’t catch the ball but instinctively opted to volley the ball on and the Irish international had the pace to win the race to touch it down.
But Benetton grew into the game and exploited a lack of defenders down the blindside to power over from close range through Manuel Zuliani. The Italians were then camped in the Bristol 22 for most of the second quarter of the match and eventually, the pressure told with Santi Grondona shown a yellow card for coming around a ruck and hitting scrum-half Andy Uren moments after the former Bristol playmaker had seen a try scrubbed off for a knock on.
And with the Bears down to 14, Matt Gallagher crossed in the corner from a floated pass by the wandering Onisi Ratave.
Bristol, knowing what was required of them, went to work in the second half and it was the front row who delivered, with Lahiff and Thacker touching down swiftly. The hooker’s try was the best of the game as captain Fitz Harding beat four tacklers before offloading to Thacker to score under the posts.
The tries continued with Thacker the creator this time, darting down the blindside from a driving maul before feeding a pass to Marmion to finish in the corner. Byrne swept home the wide conversion before making way on the hour mark with a perfect record off the tee.
But despite Pat Lam unleashing his high quality bench, Benetton fought back with a pair of quick tries for Bautista Bernasconi and Tommaso Menoncello to pick up two bonus points from the tie.
Benetton could have won had Tommaso Menoncello not blocked Kalaveti Ravouvou in the build-up to Smith scoring two minutes from time only to see the score scrubbed off.
All eyes now turn to the Stade Marcel-Michelin next Saturday.
Bristol Bears : 15. Benjamin Elizalde, 14. Jack Bates, 13. Kalaveti Ravouvou, 12. James Williams, 11. Noah Heward, 10. Harry Byrne, 9. Kieran Marmion, 1. Yann Thomas, 2. Harry Thacker, 3. Max Lahiff, 4. Joe Owen, 5. Joe Batley, 6. Santiago Grondona, 7. Fitz Harding (c), 8. Bill Mata
Replacements : 16. Gabriel Oghre, 17. Ellis Genge, 18. Jimmy Halliwell, 19. Steele Barker, 20. Steven Luatua, 21. Harry Randall, 22. Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 23. Rich Lane
Benetton Rugby : 15. Rhyno Smith, 14. Matt Gallagher, 13. Tommaso Menoncello, 12. Nacho Brex, 11. Onisi Ratave, 10. Tomas Albornoz, 9. Andy Uren, 1. Thomas Gallo, 2. Siua Maile, 3. Giosue Zilocchi, 4. Niccolo Cannone, 5. Federico Ruzza, 6. Michele Lamaro (c), 7. Manuel Zuliani, 8. Lorenzo Cannone
Replacements: 16. Bautista Bernasconi, 17. Simone Ferrari, 18. Enzo Avaca, 19. Eli Snyman, 20. Riccardo Favretto, 21. Alessandro Izekor, 22. Alessandro Garbisi, 23. Leonardo Marin
Referee: Luc Ramos (Fra)
Assistant referees: Thomas Charabas (Fra) and Jonathan Gasnier (Fra)
TMO: Julien Castaignede (Fra)