Bristol Bears were beaten 48-31 by Northampton Saints at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens in Round 15 of the 2024/25 Gallagher PremiershipHenry Pollock of Northampton Saints runs with the ball as he is challenged by Joe Owen of Bristol Bears (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Bristol Bears look like a fading force in the Gallagher Premiership as Pat Lam’s side were torn to shreds by Northampton Saints on Saturday, suffering their third straight defeat.

Northampton tuned up for their Investec Champions Cup semi-final against Leinster next weekend with a 48-31 demolition of Bristol to seriously harm the West Country club’s play-off bid, leaving them dangling precariously in fourth place in the table.

The Bears had won the past five meetings between the teams, but Northampton were totally dominant on this occassion as another error-strewn display combined with a leaky defence were the perfect recipe for defeat at Franklin’s Gardens.

An attacking bonus point, thanks to a brace of tries from Gabriel Ibitoye and solo scores from Deago Bailey, James Williams and Kieran Marmion, salvaged at least something from the burning wreck of the performance.

But Saints, inspired by star England scrum-half Alex Mitchell were deadly in attack, touching down through the player of the match, a brace from Tommy Freeman and scores from Curtis Langdon, Emmanuel Iyogun, Juarno Augustus and Henry Pollock.

Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam sounded like a broken record post-match saying: “We were our own worst enemies. Our skill levels are letting us down at the moment.

“Last week we didn’t get a bonus point because we weren’t together, this week they were and they kept going and got that bonus point, which keeps us in the top four.

“We have got three games to go and it is still in our control, but certainly our skill levels are letting us down.”

The Bears had gone ahead at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens as they used penalty advantage from a scrum to send wing Deago Bailey over on the right. Bristol thought they had scored again soon after as Kalaveti Ravouvou raced home on the left, but his effort was ruled out for a forward pass in the build-up.

The Saints were then sparked into life by Mitchell as he delivered a stunning solo try, dummying and side-stepping through from a strike move off a lineout.

The England men continued to star as Fin Smith and Henry Pollock combined for Northampton before Curtis Langdon picked up a ball which bounced off the post to score. The hosts were in the ascendancy and they scored again when James Ramm sent Tommy Freeman over.

Ramm then made a desperate last-ditch tap tackle on Ravouvou when the Fijian looked certain to score before the Saints bagged their bonus-point try, with Freeman picking up a Mitchell pass to power over.

Bristol kept going and after Harry Randall broke from halfway after regathering a charged-down kick, Ibitoye did well to stay on his feet before diving over for a timely try.

Northampton added to their lead with the final kick of the half as Smith slotted a penalty to make it 27-12.

The Saints kept marching on at the start of the second period as Freeman wrapped up Rich Lane inside the Bristol 22, dislodging the ball, allowing Manny Iyogun to score. Juarno Augustus was next to score as he powered through Ravouvou to dive over on the left.

Bristol scored their third try eight minutes from time as James Williams dotted down, but the Saints were straight back at them, with Tom James ghosting through a gap left by Benjamin Grondona before setting up Henry Pollock, who celebrated with an ‘Ash splash’, made famous by former Saint Chris Ashton.

Saints lost Fraser Dingwall to a head injury assessment and with Northampton down to 14 men with Dingwall off the field, Bristol took advantage as Ibitoye’s flying finish secured a try bonus point.

Kieran Marmion also scored late on to finish a stunning 105m strike that started behind Bristol’s tryline, but the Saints were the ones celebrating a big win at the end of a hugely impressive display.

Northampton Saints: 15 James Ramm, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Fraser Dingwall (c), 12 Rory Hutchinson, 11 Tom Litchfield, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell, 1 Emmanuel Iyogun, 2 Curtis Langdon, 3 Trevor Davison, 4 Temo Mayanavanua, 5 Alex Coles, 6 Josh Kemeny, 7 Henry Pollock, 8 Juarno Augustus

Replacements: 16 Henry Walker, 17 Tom West, 18 Elliot Millar Mills, 19 Tom Lockett, 20 Angus Scott-Young, 21 Tom James, 22 Tom Seabrook, 23 Will Glister

Bristol Bears: 15. Rich Lane, 14. Deago Bailey, 13. Kalaveti Ravouvou, 12. Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 11. Gabriel Ibitoye, 10. AJ MacGinty, 9. Harry Randall; 1. Ellis Genge, 2. Harry Thacker, 3. Max Lahiff, 4. Josh Caulfield, 5. Joe Owen, 6. Steven Luatua, 7. Santiago Grondona, 8. Fitz Harding (c)

Replacements: 16. Gabriel Oghre, 17. Yann Thomas, 18. George Kloska, 19. Viliame Mata, 20. Ben Grondona, 21. Kieran Marmion, 22. James Williams, 23. Siva Naulago

Referee: Adam Leal

Assistant Referees: Andrew Jackson and Wayne Falla

TMO : Matthew Carley