Bristol Bears were beaten 41-27 away at Sale Sharks on Friday night in Round 17 of the 2024/25 Gallagher Premiership
AJ MacGinty of Bristol Bears passes the ball. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)
Bristol Bears were well beaten 41-27 away at Sale Sharks on Friday night to seriously dent their play-off hopes.
A late surge of tries secured an attacking bonus point from the trip to the north west to salvage something from the game with Harry Randall, Bill Mata, Siva Naulago, Harry Byrne and Kalaveti Ravouvou, touching down 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.
South West rugby writer John Evely takes a closer look at the individual performances of the Bristol Bears players…
15. Rich Lane – 6
Fresh from signing a contract extension with the club, the full back showed his attacking brilliance early on, standing Rob du Preez up with some footwork before breaking away on the outside arc with his speed. But an injury midway through the first half ended his game early, and Pat Lam will be sweating, having already lost Max Malins for the season.
14. Kalaveti Ravouvou – 5
The Fijian was inches away from producing a moment of magic as he almost managed to keep in a bouncing ball from a cross-field kick from AJ MacGinty but his momentum just took him out into touch. In the final moments of the match he dropped a sitter after a brilliant offload from Santi Grondona but made amends in the closing moments with try in the corner..
13. Benhard Janse van Rensburg – 5
The South African was under immense pressure from the very start against Sale’s aggressive rush defence and lost control of the ball in contact on a couple of occasions. He made more errors in a single game than he has all season. Still a powerful showing in flashes.
12. James Williams – 4
The centre conceded a couple of penalties for holding on as Sale put him under immense pressure with their rush defence.
11. Gabriel Ibitoye – 5
Moved to full back due to the injury to Lane, Ibitoye was put under immense pressure by George Ford’s inch-perfect kicking game. He had far too few chances to run, but came up with a stunning wide pass off his left hand to put Naulago through to score in the corner. Generally well boxed in.
10. AJ MacGinty – 4
The USA international looked like a rabbit in the headlights at times against his old club who packed his channel with big bodies. With Bristol adopting a more conservative kicking game, the natural running threat looked like he was fighting against his natural insticts and as a result being very hesistant which resulted in Bristol’s attack looking clunky for most of the game. Had a terrible time off the tee as well which contributed to the Bears not getting a second losing bonus point.
9. Harry Randall – 7
The scrum-half showed his electric X-factor with a stunning sniping try in the first half, picking the ball at the base of a ruck on the edge of the Sale 22 and spotting a pair of props in front of him before dissecting them with his pace and jetting to the tryline.
1. Jake Woolmore – 5
Brought into the starting team for Ellis Genge who dropped to the bench, the loosehead endured a tough first 40 minutes in the setpiece before making way at half time.
2. Gabriel Oghre – 5
The hooker threw well at the lineout and buzzed around the pitch but got overshadowed by his opposite man Tadgh McElroy who had the game of his life.
3. George Kloska – 5
The tighthead was in a proper battle with Bevan Rodd in the scrum and managed to hold his own.
4. Josh Caulfield – 5
The lock put himself about in a huge defensive effort in the first half as the Bears were starved off the ball. Brought off for James Dun at half time.
5. Joe Batley – 6
Making his second consecutive start after his return from injury and looking to impress the England selectors with Steve Borthwick set to name his squad next week for this summer’s tour to Argentina. The big lock caused a nuisance charging down kicks but once again didn’t get the bounce of the ball to turn them into points.
6. Santiago Grondona – 6
Coming into the starting side in place of the injured Steven Luatua the flanker was in the thick of the action throughout and game up with a stunning offload that should have gifted a try for Ravouvou but the Fijian dropped it.
7. Fitz Harding – 6
The skipper was unable to stop Jonny Hill barging over from a 5m tap and go but battled relentlessly.
8. Viliame Mata – 6
The number eight seems to be peaking towards the end of the season and got his name on the scoresheet at the back of a driving maul. The big Fijian made a couple of wicked trademark big tackles and shout have had a second try in the closing moments but had the ball dislodged in the deadball area.
Replacements:
16. Will Capon – 7
17. Ellis Genge – 7
18. Max Lahiff – 6
19. James Dun – 6
20. Joe Owen – 6
21. Kieran Marmion – 6
22. Harry Byrne – 6
23. Siva Naulago – 7