Bristol Bears were beaten 41-27 away at Sale Sharks on Friday night in Round 17 of the 2024/25 Gallagher PremiershipTom O’Flaherty of Sale Sharks charges upfield during the Gallagher Premiership Rugby match between Sale Sharks and Bristol Bears at Salford Community Stadium on May 16, 2025 in Salford, England. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Bristol Bears may yet make the Gallagher Premiership play-offs, but it is hard to avoid the feeling that they are limping their way to the finish line.

After an unimpressive 36-14 win against Bath’s second-string last weekend, Bristol were well beaten 41-27 away at Sale Sharks on Friday night, leaving their fate in the hands of others, namely Saracens.

A late surge of tries secured an attacking bonus point from the trip to the north west to salvage something from the game and give Pat Lam’s side something to chase on the final day of the regular season at home to Harlequins.

The Bears touched down through Harry Randall, Bill Mata, Siva Naulago, Harry Byrne and Kalaveti Ravouvou, but errant kicking from both AJ MacGinty and Harry Byrne meant there was no second losing bonus point from despite the late rally.

Player of the match, George Ford, in contrast, landed five from five conversions and two penalties in a virtuoso display just a week after being left out of the British and Irish Lions squad.

For at least 70 minutes of the contest, the hosts came up with the perfect combination of power and guile to touch down through Dan du Preez, Tadgh McElroy, Jonny Hill, Rekeiti Maasi-White and Raffi Quirke to remind everyone of their title credentials.

Sale, who were missing their injured Lions Luke Cowan-Dickie and Tom Curry, began brightly and led in the ninth minute when George Ford kicked a penalty to put them 3-0 up. It was just reward for their bright start and from there the home side were largely dominant.

Ford, who was named the Gallagher Premiership player of the month in April, continued his rich vein of form as he repeatedly put players through gaps. His team scored their first try in the 23rd minute when Rob du Preez and captain Ben Curry combined to find Dan du Preez down the right flank. The South African back-rower was not to be denied as he crossed the line to score and Ford added the conversion.

Bristol soon hit back when Randall sniped around the side of ruck on the edge of the 22 and exploited a mismatch of pace to dissect the two Sharks props and jet his way over the line. But the initiative remained largely with Sale and Ford added his second penalty as the half-hour mark approached.

Four minutes before the break, with the Sharks pushing hard for another try, McElroy had the strength to power his way over from close range and Ford converted to make it 20-5 at the break.

But with Ellis Genge, Max Lahiff and James Dun introduced at half-time, Bristol upped the tempo after the break and Mata scored in the 48th minute after being driven over from close range at the back of a maul.

In the 54th minute, Hill showed impressive strength to dive over from close range from his own quick tap penalty and Ford converted again to put Sale 27-10 up. Yet Bristol refused to lie down and an acrobatic finish from Siva Naulago in the right corner following a sumptuous wide pass from Gabriel Ibitoye – converted by James Williams – cut Sale’s lead to 10 points.

Rekeiti Ma’asi-White and Raffi Quirke then went over for Sale’s fourth and fifth tries, the first with bulldozing power, the second with balletic balance and a burst of speed.

Bristol scored late on through Harry Byrne, attacking on a nice diagonal line off the back of a scrum for a losing bonus point. The late concluded with and Kalaveti Ravouvou touching down but the clock ran out on the Bears as they chased another point from the game.

Sale Sharks: 15. Joe Carpenter, 14. Tom Roebuck, 13. Rob du Preez, 12. Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, 11. Tom O’Flaherty, 10. George Ford 9. Gus Warr, 1. Bevan Rodd, 2. Tadgh McElroy, 3. Asher Opoku-Fordjour 4. Ernst van Rhyn, 5. Jonny Hill, 6. JL du Preez, 7. Ben Curry (c), 8. Dan du Preez.

Replacements: 16. Alfie Longstaff, 17. Si McIntyre, 18. WillGriff John, 19. Ben Bamber, 20. Sam Dugdale, 21. Raffi Quirke, 22. Sam Bedlow, 23. Alex Wills.

Bristol Bears: 15. Rich Lane, 14. Kalaveti Ravouvou, 13. Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 12. James Williams, 11. Gabriel Ibitoye, 10. AJ MacGinty, 9. Harry Randall; 1. Jake Woolmore, 2. Gabriel Oghre, 3. George Kloska, 4. Josh Caulfield, 5. Joe Batley, 6. Santiago Grondona, 7. Fitz Harding (c), 8. Viliame Mata

Replacements: 16. Will Capon, 17. Ellis Genge, 18. Max Lahiff, 19. James Dun, 20. Joe Owen, 21. Kieran Marmion, 22. Harry Byrne, 23. Siva Naulago

Referee: Adam Leal

Assistant Referees: Karl Dickson and Jamie Leahy

TMO: Andrew Jackson