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<\/p>\nBristol Bears were beaten 38-17 away at Sale Sharks on Saturday in Round 18 of the 2025\/26 Gallagher PREM<\/p>\n
11:06, 07 Jun 2026<\/p>\n
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(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n
An understrength Bristol Bears side were beaten 38-17 away at Sale Sharks on Saturday as Pat Lam played a number of fringe players to hit the RFU’s EQP standards for the season.<\/p>\n
England fly-half George Ford opened the scoring and lock Ben Bamber soon doubled Sale\u2019s lead before winger Arron Reed and full-back Joe Carpenter also touched down to make it a daunting 26-0. Bristol hit back with two tries from winger Noah Heward and hooker Tomas Gwilliam before the break. But Sale scored a fifth try through Rekeiti Ma\u2019asi-White and Reed claimed his second before Bristol fly-half Sam Worsley completed the scoring late on.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Bristol Bears’ makeshift ‘all-English’ side show bravery in defeat at Sale Sharks<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n South West rugby writer John Evely takes a closer look at the individual performances from the Bristol Bears<\/a> players…<\/p>\n 15. Rich Lane – 5<\/strong><\/p>\n Playing in his final game as a Bear, having been released, he showed flashes of that electric pace but his game was ended in the 52nd minute after a tap tackle up ended him and the full back landed heavily on his head.<\/p>\n 14. Noah Heward – 7<\/strong><\/p>\n The winger was the class act in the Bristol backline as he looked every bit a senior player. His try was impressive, running a highly intelligent hook line following a break from Harry Thacker to wrong-foot three defenders and power his way over the line, reaching out to just dot the ball down. Made way limping shortly after, though.<\/p>\n 13. Jack Bates – 5<\/strong><\/p>\n Made some solid carries in traffic but never broke the line.<\/p>\n 12. Joe Jenkins – 5<\/strong><\/p>\n Making his last appearance for the club with a move to Leicester Tigers secured for next season, the centre was unable to stop Carpenter powering over the line after Sale caught Bristol too bunched defensively. Punched a couple of holes carrying.<\/p>\n 11. Aidan Boshoff – 6<\/strong><\/p>\n The winger had a poor start to the game after he lost the ball, having looked like he had intercepted it, and Sale ruthlessly countered down the right-hand tramlines, passing inside and out to put Bamber over in the corner for their second after less than 5 minutes. He grew into the game and made some smart line breaks, albeit getting isolated at times. Lively but raw.<\/p>\n 10. Sam Worsley – 6<\/strong><\/p>\n Coming back into the side for AJ MacGinty, the fly-half got himself on the scoresheet with a try thanks to a sensational offload off the deck from debutant Ollie Harris, but he was caught napping in defence for Sales\u2019 third try as Raffi Quirke exploited the narrowest of blindsides to break the line and kick through for Reed to chase and dot the ball down.<\/p>\n 9. Harry Randall – 6<\/strong><\/p>\n Skippering the side, the scrum half showed some real sharpness and quick thinking, tapping and going from a goal line drop out to catch Sale sleeping. He produced some nice tactical kicks as well, pinning the Sharks back in their 22 to relieve some pressure.<\/p>\n 1. Jake Woolmore – 7<\/strong><\/p>\n The loosehead used all his experience to give the Bears the edge in the scrum and earned his side a vital penalty, which they kicked to the corner to catch and drive and deliver Gwilliam over the line. He twice came up with interceptions and strips of the ball and produced a lovely offload to Lovejoy Chawatama.<\/p>\n 2. Tomos Gwilliam – 7<\/strong><\/p>\n The hooker looks ready to step up and play more regular first-team rugby. The lineout was solid and he took his try well at the back of a driving maul. Gwilliam felt he had a second in identical fashion, was judged to be held up. Promising.<\/p>\n 3. Max Lahiff – 7<\/strong><\/p>\n The tighthead was involved in some gargantuan collisions in defence and seemed to have the edge in the scrum. He provided a vital latch to power Gwilliam over the line for his try.<\/p>\n 4. James Dun – 5<\/strong><\/p>\n Playing his final game for his home town club, he ran himself into the ground for the cause but had minimal impact.<\/p>\n 5. George Taylor – 6<\/strong><\/p>\n The young lock is a pure athlete, and his multi-coloured helmet seemed to be all over the pack, and he threw blue-shirted bodies around with seeming ease.<\/p>\n 6. Joe Owen – 3<\/strong><\/p>\n Despite having had a really strong season, the flanker was full of errors, dropping the kick-off and then a high up and under, and then more criminally giving a pass to no one close to the line, which allowed Sale to turn the ball over and kick long. Knocked on after a huge tackle from Tom Curry, with the Bears looking dangerous in attack.<\/p>\n 7. Harry Thacker – 7<\/strong><\/p>\n Making the rarest of starts at flanker, the normal hooker was run over by powerhouse Nathan Jibulu in the opening minute, which gave Sale unstoppable momentum, which led to Ford scoring after just 70 seconds. However, he showed what fleet-footedness can achieve in the build-up to Heward\u2019s score, running the perfect out to in line to break the Sale line. No one on the pitch made more metres with ball in hand.<\/p>\n 8. Joe Batley – 6<\/strong><\/p>\n Playing out of position at number eight, the normal lock got around the pitch well without the scrummaging work he is used to in the second row. Hit Tom Curry dead in his tracks and smartly intercepted a looping pass early in the second half before heading off for a HIA which he later returned from.<\/p>\n Replacements:<\/strong><\/p>\n 16. Kieran Hill – N\/A<\/p>\n 17. Sam Grahamslaw – 6<\/p>\n 18. Lovejoy Chawatama – 6<\/p>\n 19. Jimmy Halliwell – 6<\/p>\n 20. Kenzie Jenkins – 6<\/p>\n 21. Sam Wolstenholme – 7<\/p>\n 22. Max Pepper – 6<\/p>\n 23. 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