Bristol Bears mustered enough moments of magic to see off a stubborn Northampton Saints side 31-23 at Ashton Gate on Friday night in their least fluent display since the opening night against Newcastle.
The Bears first home win of the campaign took them top of the standings, at least overnight, as they secured a club record seventh consecutive attacking bonus point. A brace of tries from Fijian centre Kalaveti Ravouvou on his first start of the season, and in the Premiership, helped the Bears comeback from 15 points down midway through the first half to take the spoils.
READ MORE: Bristol Bears 31-23 Northampton Saints LIVE: Full highlights and reaction
Northampton, despite being without five players on England squad duty ahead of the Autumn Nations Series, made life difficult and were rewarded with tries for full-back George Hendy, flanker Josh Kemeny and wing James Ramm, while debutant fly-half George Makepeace-Cubitt kicked two penalties and a conversion. Bristol, though, had too much quality on the night with winger Gabriel Ibitoye and player of the match Joe Batley joining Ravouvou on the scoresheet. Fly-half AJ MacGinty kicked all four conversions and landed a penalty as Bristol finished a first block of six Premiership games before the autumn Tests in fine shape.
Bristol, who were minus England pair Harry Randall and Ellis Genge, have fired out the blocks so far this season but struggled to find their trademark fluency initially, and Makepeace-Cubitt kicked Saints ahead through a 14th-minute penalty.
Flanker Steven Luatua went close to a Bristol try from the restart, but Saints responded impressively and a slick attack ended with Hendy finishing superbly, before Makepeace-Cubitt’s conversion made it 10-0. Bristol, hampered by uncharacteristic errors, fell further behind just two minutes later following a powerful surge from flanker Tom Pearson, who ran over Kieran Marmion before sending an unmarked Kemeny over to leave the home side in considerable strife.
The hosts needed a response as Northampton continued to threaten, and it arrived 10 minutes before half-time after impressive build-up play created an overlap that Ibitoye easily exploited.
MacGinty converted from the touchline, and Bristol were at it again just three minutes later, cutting open Northampton’s defence as Ravouvou invited to cut a line off MacGinty and he sprinted through a huge gap to finish with a five. MacGinty’s conversion made it 15-14.
Northampton had the final of the first 40 minutes when Makepeace-Cubitt kicked a penalty that secured a four-point interval advantage. Both sides had scoring chances in the third quarter but Bristol had a prominent attacking force in Luatua, whose strong running built foundations for a third try. The Northampton defence struggled to hold him, and Ravouvou applied the finishing touch as he took the ball at speed, spun out of a tackle and slammed the ball down, with MacGinty’s conversion making it 21-18.
The fly-half kicked a penalty 13 minutes from time that gave Bristol a small degree of breathing space, and there was no way back for Saints when a high-class attack that saw Ibitoye give an impossible offload to Benjamin Elizalde who linked with Sam Wolstenholme and was rounded off by Batley.
Northampton went in pursuit of a losing bonus point as the clock ticked down – one that their overall performance deserved – yet it eluded them. Ramm touched down for Saints’ third try in the final minute after a high quality break and long pass from Rory Hutchinson, but Makepeace-Cubitt’s touchline conversion attempt hit the post, meaning an eight-point margin of defeat and no bonus.
Bristol Bears : 15. Rich Lane, 14. Jack Bates, 13. Kalaveti Ravouvou, 12. Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 11. Gabriel Ibitoye, 10. AJ MacGinty, 9. Kieran Marmion; 1. Jake Woolmore, 2. Gabriel Oghre, 3. Max Lahiff, 4. James Dun, 5. Joe Batley, 6. Steven Luatua, 7. Benjamin Grondona, 8. Fitz Harding (c).
Replacements: 16. Harry Thacker, 17. Yann Thomas, 18. George Kloska, 19. Joe Owen, 20. Jake Heenan, 21. Sam Wolstenholme, 22. Sam Worsley, 23. Benjamin Elizalde.
Northampton Saints: 15 George Hendy, 14 James Ramm, 13 Tom Litchfield, 12 Rory Hutchinson, 11 Tom Seabrook, 10 George Makepeace-Cubitt, 9 Tom James; 1 Tom West, 2 Curtis Langdon, 3 Elliot Millar Mills, 4 Temo Mayanavanua, 5 Alex Coles (c), 6 Josh Kemeny, 7 Tom Pearson, 8 Henry Pollock.
Replacements: 16 Craig Wright, 17 Emmanuel Iyogun, 18 Luke Green, 19 Gavin Thornbury, 20 Angus Scott-Young, 21 Archie McParland, 22 Charlie Savala, 23 Jake Garside.
Referee : Craig Maxwell-Keys
Assistant Referees : Anthony Woodthorpe and Harry Walbaum
TMO: Andrew Jackson