Bristol Bears player ratings from impressive victory over Harlequins - '10/10'

Bristol Bears ran in six tries at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham on Saturday to tear Harlequins to shreds while frustrating them with a dogged defensive display in a 40-14 win in Round Seven of the Gallagher PREM.

Once again, the Bears shared the try scoring work, touching down through Kalaveti Ravouvou, Joe Batley, Gabriel Oghre, Louis Rees-Zammit, Santiago Grondona and Ellis Genge. Tom Jordan added four conversions for eight points, with James Williams kicking one.

With the result already settled, Quins gave the huge home crowd something to cheer about with tries from Rodrigo Isgro and Marcus Smith, the latter converting both scores, but it was largely a dismal day for the struggling West London side.

South West rugby writer John Evely takes a closer look at the individual performances from the Bristol Bears players…

15 Louis Rees-Zammit – 8

The Welsh star looked very comfortable at full back as Bristol found ways to constantly bring him into the game, using his searing pace to jet down the outside channel on arcing attacks. He made his difficult try look so easy, chipping over the top and regathering on the bounce to be able to start celebrating on his way to the line.

14 Aidan Boshoff – 8

The young winger looked ready for the big stage as he more than held his own on his first PREM start. His quick thinking to take a quick lineout led to the standout moment of the game as he fed Ellis Genge to spark the prop’s 50m solo try.

13 Benhard Janse van Rensburg – 8

The centre was class from start to finish, showing his kicking threat with a perfectly weighted grubber kick that sat up for Ravouvou to claim and offload to Batley to score.

12 James Williams – 7

The centre was the glue in the midfield, constantly popping up in that second receiver role from pulled-back passes from the forward pod, with all the pressure on him to pick the right pass to unlock the defence.

11 Kalaveti Ravouvou – 9

The Fijian started the show with a wonderfully confident finish in the corner as he used his strength to bump off Cadan Murley and touch down in the corner. The flicks and tricks were also on full display with a gorgeous offload after regathering a grubber in behind to set up Batley for his try, and then lightning-quick hands to put Rees-Zammit down the tram lines for his five-pointer.

10 Tom Jordan – 8

The Scottish international is looking more and more comfortable in the number 10 jersey at Bristol as he picked his passes perfectly to stretch Harlequins’ defence to break point on Saturday. His three-man right-handed arching miss pass to Ravouvou for the opening try was a bit special. Picked up a yellow card.

9 Kieran Marmion – 8

The scrum half zipped around the pitch and played through an injury.

1 Ellis Genge – 10

The England star was out of this world as he played nearly the whole game after having to come back on when Jake Woolmore was removed for a HIA. A no-look pass in the opening minutes set Batley free to create the linebreak for the Bears’ first try. But his second spell on the pitch was even better than his first as he set the tone with his physicality in defence, typified by a colossal tackle on Chandler Cunningham-South. Of course the cherry on top was one of the best solo tries you will ever see from a loosehead prop as he took the ball on halfway from a quick lineout, bounced out of two tackles and then hit top speed, running over the top of full back Nick David on his way to finishing the 50m score.

2 Gabriel Oghre – 8

The Bristol lineout functioned well throughout. He simply had no right to score his try, crashing through three tackles to get close enough to reach out and dot the ball down.

3 Lovejoy Chawatama – 7

The prop struggled early on in his battle with late replacement Will Hobson in the scrum.

4 Pedro Rubiolo – 9

The Argentina international might just be the most canny signing of the season. Much like Benhard Janse van Rensburg sets the tone in the backline, the lock barely puts a foot wrong as he leads the physical work in the pack. He drew special praise from Ellis Genge post-match.

5 Joe Batley – 9

The lock had an outstanding game as he set the tone in the first couple of minutes, as he burst through the Harlequins defensive line from a no-look pass from Ellis Genge. That led to Ravouvou’s touchdown in the corner. His own try was a superb team effort, finished with an emphatic fend.

6 Joe Owen – 8

Owen’s ability to stretch the defence with his pace in the outside channels and then offload the ball makes him such an attacking asset to this Bears side. His offload to Boshoff in the build-up to Oghre’s try was sublime.

7 Santiago Grondona – 7

The Argentina international got through a tonne of work and was then on the spot early in the second half to break off a maul and score

8 Fitz Harding – 7

The skipper moved to number eight in the absence of Bill Mata and showed he can punch his own holes as a carrier, while also smoothly moving the ball when that is the better option.

Replacements:

16 Harry Thacker – 7

17 Jake Woolmore – 6

18 George Kloska – 7

19 George Taylor – 7

20 Benjamin Grondona – 7

21 Harry Randall – 7

22 Sam Worsley – 7

23 Noah Heward – 7

Bristol Bears player ratings from impressive victory over Harlequins – ’10/10′

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