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<\/p>\nBristol Bears were beaten 94-33 by Northampton Saints on Friday night in Round 16 of the 2025\/26 Gallagher PREM<\/p>\n
14:22, 16 May 2026Updated 14:35, 16 May 2026<\/p>\n
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Bristol Bears’ Richard Lane is tackled by Northampton Saints’ Tommy Freeman (Photo: Bradley Collyer\/PA Wire.)(Image: Bradley Collyer\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n
Bristol Bears director of rugby Pat Lam called Friday night\u2019s 94-33 thrashing away at Northampton Saints a collective failing as his side conceded the most points in the top flight in the club\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
Bristol shipped 14 of the 19 tries scored overall on an embarrassing night for them that all-but ended their play-off hopes. George Hendy led the charge for Northampton by scoring four tries, with the hosts also crossing through braces from Rory Hutchinson and Archie McParland, and one apiece from Callum Chick, Alex Coles, George Furbank, Josh Kemeny, Henry Pollock and Sam Graham. Harry Thacker, Louis Rees-Zammit, Harry Randall, Lukas Ivanishvili and Noah Heward replied with tries for the visitors.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Bristol Bears humiliated by free-scoring Northampton Saints as play-off dreams are crushed<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n South West rugby writer John Evely takes a closer look at the individual performances from the Bristol Bears<\/a> players\u2026<\/p>\n 15. Rich Lane – 2<\/strong><\/p>\n The full-back, who has only just returned from a hamstring injury, had a torrid afternoon in defence as he got caught out a couple of times before being hooked off early. He got pulled out of the line for Hutchinson\u2019s first score, having given up the field position by not getting into touch, and turned over. He nearly intercepted a wide pass from Fin Smith following a break, but couldn\u2019t hold onto the ball, which allowed Freeman to cleverly keep the ball in-field with a kick, and Chick picked up to score. He was far too casual getting across to shut down Hendy\u2019s space in the build-up to Furbank\u2019s try, and that saw Lam bring on Noah Heward in the 29th minute.<\/p>\n 14. Louis Rees-Zammit – 4<\/strong><\/p>\n Returning from a knee strain and starting on the wing, the Welshman showed a flash of his finish ability as he took a pass from Lane 25m out and beat Hendy for pace to score in the corner with the Bears still in the contest at that point in the game. He got lost looking for gaps that weren\u2019t there a few times, but generally carried well and broke the game line repeatedly.<\/p>\n 13. Benhard Janse van Rensburg – 4<\/strong><\/p>\n With all the billing pre-match being how he is likely to be called up for England this summer, having become eligible for involvement on the five-year residency rule, the centre had his poorest game of the season as he dropped and forced passes. Surprisingly got beaten on the outside by Callum Chick in the build-up to Hendy\u2019s hat-trick score.<\/p>\n 12. James Williams – 4<\/strong><\/p>\n The centre kicked well from the tee and burst a couple of lines, but was knocked back in the tackle too many times.<\/p>\n 11. Kalaveti Ravouvou – 3<\/strong><\/p>\n The Fijian was typically elusive with the ball in hand, but his yellow card for an adjudged deliberate knock on in the first half was incredibly costly.<\/p>\n 10. Tom Jordan – 4<\/strong><\/p>\n The full backs set the tone for an evening of defensive mistakes as he shot up out of the line in just the third minute to produce a dog leg that allowed Henry Pollock to flood through before sending a wide pass to Hendy to score.<\/p>\n 9. Harry Randall – 5<\/strong><\/p>\n The scrum half\u2019s quick tap from a free kick at a scrum created the quick ball needed to create the space for Rees-Zammit to jet into the corner. Saints won the battle of the breakdown, slowing down Randall\u2019s ball at the ruck to slow down his delivery. Like so many of his teammates, he was guilty of rushing out the defensive line, and the deadly Saints made him pay with Hutchinson going through the middle. He did get a consolation try just after half-time, though, after a nice break from Owen down the right wing.<\/p>\n 1. Ellis Genge – 5<\/strong><\/p>\n The England star was spitting with anger as he was unable to stop things unravelling around him for Bristol. Got involved in an off-the-ball scuffle with Henry Pollock, which could see him get cited after slamming the backrower to the ground.<\/p>\n 2. Harry Thacker – 5<\/strong><\/p>\n The hooker finished well from close range with Pollock all over him after a nice flick pass from Kloska. The lineout performed well throughout.<\/p>\n 3. George Kloska – 5<\/strong><\/p>\n The England hopeful produced a great pass to put Harry Thacker over for a try, but then limped off with a calf injury.<\/p>\n 4. James Dun – 4<\/strong><\/p>\n The lock missed a tackle on Coles, which allowed the Saints’ second row to spin and blast his way over the line for a try. He was unlucky to have a charge down on a Fin Smith kick land in the hands of Freeman, who took off from his own 22 to spark a length-of-the-field try.<\/p>\n 5. Joe Batley – 3<\/strong><\/p>\n The lock was sin-binned on the stroke of half-time for a high shot on Fin Smith, as the frustration at the embarrassing scoreline bubbled over, and Saints scored a brace of tries while h was watching from the sidelines<\/p>\n 6. Joe Owen – 4<\/strong><\/p>\n The speedy lock showed just how quick his wheels are as he burst down the right wing in the second half to stretch the home defence before passing inside to Randall to score.<\/p>\n 7. Fitz Harding – 5<\/strong><\/p>\n The captain battled tirelessly and opened up the Saints backline with a clever inside pass to Heward to put him in for a try.<\/p>\n 8. Santiago Grondona – 4<\/strong><\/p>\n The number eight got his positioning wrong as he went up for a kickoff at the top of a pod from a restart, and the ball went beyond him and into the hands of McParland to score his second.<\/p>\n Replacements:<\/strong><\/p>\n 16. Tomas Gwilliam – 5<\/p>\n 17. Jake Woolmore – 5<\/p>\n 18. Max Lahiff – 5<\/p>\n 19. George Taylor – 5<\/p>\n 20. Luka Ivanishvili – 5<\/p>\n 21. Kieran Marmion – 5<\/p>\n 22. Matias Moroni – 3<\/p>\n 23. 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