Bristol pump Northampton with nine try haul
Rampant Bristol reeled off a third successive Gallagher Premiership victory after crushing play-off hopefuls Northampton 62-8 at Ashton Gate.
It left Bristol just three points adrift of the play-off zone, with Pat Lam’s team hitting impressive form at the season’s business end as they recorded their club-record Premiership win.
Scrum-half Harry Randall scored two tries, while hooker Harry Thacker and substitute wing Ioan Lloyd also touched down as Bristol secured a bonus-point before half-time.
The second period was a similar tale of dominance as further tries followed for Lloyd, lock Chris Vui, prop George Kloska, flanker Fitz Harding and replacement Jake Heenan to leave Saints in disarray.
Fly-half AJ MacGinty kicked four conversions and a penalty, with centre James Williams adding three conversions. All Northampton could muster was a George Hendy try and Fin Smith penalty.
Northampton were without a number of players due to injuries and England training commitments, but their capitulation was startling on a night that saw them out-played in every key department on the way to a club record Premiership loss.
But Bristol, despite suffering a run of eight league games without a win earlier this term, now find themselves chasing a play-off spot.
A five-game run-in begins at home to Harlequins next weekend and, with confidence levels soaring, a concerted semi-final push looks likely.
Saints were immediately on the front foot, with wing Tom Collins sparking a thrilling counter-attack that stretched Bristol’s defence, before Smith opened Northampton’s account through an eighth-minute penalty.
Even though MacGinty kicked an equalising penalty four minutes later, Bristol found themselves dominated in terms of territory and possession.
But just when they required a flash of inspiration it arrived in the form of England international Randall, who sprinted over from 20 metres out after wrong-footing Saints’ defence.
Bristol thought they had scored again from the restart when number eight Magnus Bradbury sent Thacker clear, only for him to find the unmarked Siva Naulago with a forward pass.
Northampton were in reverse gear, though, and Bristol punished them again through a close-range Thacker try that MacGinty converted, opening up a 17-3 lead.
Bristol’s attacking game had found full throttle, which was underlined seven minutes before half-time when Northampton had no answer to the brilliance of full-back Charles Piutau.
Piutau spun his way out of a tackle just inside Bristol’s half, then tormented Northampton defenders on a weaving run before kicking towards the corner and Randall gathered a kind bounce to collect a second try.
Piutau was well and truly in the mood to cause havoc, and Bristol collected a bonus-point try following another destructive break that ended with a one-handed pass to Lloyd, whose strong finish made it 27-3 at the break.
Bristol had no intention of sitting on their sizeable lead, and Northampton’s defence was opened up again five minutes into the second period when Randall and Piutau combined to create a second try for Lloyd.
It was now nothing more than a damage-limitation exercise for Northampton, yet Vui’s opportunist try, converted by MacGinty, took Bristol past 40 points with almost 30 minutes remaining.
Hendy grabbed a Northampton consolation score, but Bristol continued to pick Saints off with ease as Kloska rounded off a concerted spell of pressure with try number seven, then Harding and Heenan completed the rout.
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Everywhere you turn some irish journo is advocating Ireland as the greatest, reasoning that the wc is a 4 year cycle event so, they say wc doesn’t matter it’s the rugby in between that should account for the accolade. If there was no wc then some substance could be gained, however in my opinion the moment that defined Ireland’s fate against the abs was 37 phases of repeated head bashing against a brick wall. If a change in strategy or a tinker with the game plan was executed then things could've been vastly different. And to point a finger the let down was in the hands of the number 10.
Go to commentsI have heard it asked if RA is essentially one of the part owners and I suppose therefor should be on the other side of these two parties. If they purchased the rebels and guaranteed them, and are responsible enough they incur Rebels penalties, where is this line drawn? Seems rough to have to pay a penalty for something were your involvement sees you on the side of the conned party, the creditors. If the Rebels directors themselves have given the club their money, 6mil worth right, why aren’t they also listed as sitting with RA and the Tax office? And the legal threat was either way, new Rebels or defunct, I can’t see how RA assume the threat was less likely enough to warrant comment about it in this article. Surely RA ignore that and only worry about whether they can defend it or not, which they have reported as being comfortable with. So in effect wouldn’t it be more accurate to say there is no further legal threat (or worry) in denying the deal. Unless the directors have reneged on that. > Returns of a Japanese team or even Argentinean side, the Jaguares, were said to be on the cards, as were the ideas of standing up brand new teams in Hawaii or even Los Angeles – crazy ideas that seemingly forgot the time zone issues often cited as a turn-off for viewers when the competition contained teams from South Africa. Those timezones are great for SR and are what will probably be needed to unlock its future (cant see it remaining without _atleast _help from Aus), day games here are night games on the West Coast of america, were potential viewers triple, win win. With one of the best and easiest ways to unlock that being to play games or a host a team there. Less good the further across Aus you get though. Jaguares wouldn’t be the same Jaguares, but I still would think it’s better having them than keeping the Rebels. The other options aren’t really realistic 25’ options, no. From reading this authors last article I think if the new board can get the investment they seem to be confident in, you keeping them simply for the amount of money they’ll be investing in the game. Then ditch them later if they’re not good enough without such a high budget. Use them to get Jaguares reintergration stronger, with more key players on board, and have success drive success.
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