Four talking points as Bristol storm Bath to bag bragging rights

It’s next weekend which is billed as the derby round in the Gallagher Premiership but that neighbourly rivalry arrived a week earlier for Bath and Bristol. This west country clash between cities less than 13 miles apart along the A4 is the one that matters most, not Bears heading around 80 miles south to Exeter or Bath tipping 45 miles north to Gloucester.

The sense of Bristol jubilation and Bath distress was very evident at The Rec when referee Christophe Ridley called a halt to a nine-try, 36-26 encounter that went the way of the visitors in conditions that were spring rather than autumn.

Those stark emotions carried over in the post-game media briefing where Pat Lam sounded like he was ready for a lively night on the tiles in sharp contrast to the downbeat Johann van Graan, who came across as someone wanting to go quietly slunk home, pull the curtains and forget the misery of losing to your nearest but not so dearest.

What holed the Bath effort was attacking inefficiency, especially from five metres out. Last season, they frequently blew the opposition away from this close-in distance but they fluffed their lines versus Bristol, who harvested greater treasure from their nine entries to the 22 compared to Bath’s 11.

“To perform like that and play the way we did was a truer version of who we are,” beamed Lam. “Last week (in the home defeat to Gloucester), while we had some good moments we were pretty disappointed with our defence which was not the system, it was around effort.”

Bath carried more (113 to 81), made more post-contact metres (289 to 242), conceded less penalties (9 to 14) and had a quicker 0-3 seconds ruck, but missed tackles hit hard as their completion rate was 75 per cent (29 of 89 missed) compared to 85 per cent (30 of 166 missed).

No wonder van Graan sounded so glum. “Disappointed because we didn’t finish our opportunities. Specifically five yards away. We have multiple opportunities and we didn’t finish them… they stopped our power game close to the try line well.”

Bristol certainly did. Here at the RugbyPass talking points from a sold-out Saturday afternoon at The Rec:

Delayed debut worth the wait

It must be a Premiership record, a Test-level player signing for an English club and have to wait 15 months to make his debut. Santiago Grondona had played in the top flight before, lining out at Exeter before finishing the 2022/23 season at Pau in France.

Bristol splashed out that July and expected to have the Argentine bolstering their back row from last November once the Rugby World Cup was over.

Cruelly, he never got to the big French festival, a non-contact ACL rupture when running in the final warm-up match in Spain instead consigning him to a length rehab in Bristol before his belated debut versus Bath. To say he shone would be an understatement.

He learned the Bristol way during pre-season, playing two friendlies before Lam gave him his blessing to link up with Argentina.

Three Rugby Championship appearances later, including a start last weekend in Mbombela versus the Springboks, the 26-year-old more than proved his match fitness and he legged it back to England, arriving at a team meeting last Monday straight from the airport.

That commitment was rewarded, Grondona getting named in the starting team for his club debut. Adding to the specialness of the occasion, younger brother Benjamin, who was signed after the recent World Rugby U20 Championship in Cape Town, was also on the bench.

Save for a second-half yellow card, the newcomer was a tonic, smashing in 18 tackles – just one shy of the chart-topping Fitz Harding – and pouncing for two well-taken tries from his half-dozen carries. Superb.

“He just showed why we signed him way back,” enthused Lam, delighted to belatedly relish some generous bang for Bristol’s Los Pumas buck. “We were gutted for him to miss out on the World Cup.

“Our rehab team did a great job. We got a lot of compliments from Argentina. We kept them informed and the beauty was that he had been with us all year. He wasn’t able to train with us because of that rehab but pre-season he was in with us, so he learned the game.

“He is a very good student of the game so we had a lot of confidence that he had done enough. He had some minutes with us in the pre-season games and was to work his way back, but what a way to play rugby after a long injury – to go straight and play The Rugby Championship and play against South Africa.

“He came straight back in and showed his class. That is our fifth brothers for Bristol, the Grondona boys. He had never played rugby with his brother before, which is class because there is about a five-year age gap.”

After this maiden star turn, expect to hear much more about Santi in the coming weeks and months.

Ewels bouncing back from double red

It can’t have been easy for Charlie Ewels to pick up the pieces of his brutal England comeback last June. Ever since he was red-carded at Twickenham 82 seconds into a March 2022 loss to Ireland, the lock had craved another Test-level chance.

It wasn’t a redemptive experience when it arrived after a 15-month wait. Quite the opposite in fact as within seven minutes of being ushered into the fray in Tokyo, he was given a yellow card for a dangerous clear-out that was upgraded to red – making him the first player to be sent off in consecutive matches.

The consequence for the 29-year-old was not getting named in the England squad that has a three-day training camp from Monday ahead of the upcoming Autumn Nations Series, with the fit-again Ollie Chessum taking the spot.

Given his grave disappointment, it would be understandable if Ewels went missing in action for Bath but he showed a level of admirable second-half defiance in an 80-minute effort that included nine tackles and four carries.

The bonus-clinching Bath try from Ollie Lawrence on 76 minutes highlighted his pluck in trying to get stuck in with his club again despite his Test-level notoriety. In that lengthy, time-consuming attack, he exhaustingly showed up when it came to shifting Bristol bodies away at clear-outs and in getting his hands on the ball and tipping it on quickly.

On a dour day result-wise, Ewels’ effort was a straw to clutch. “Charlie is one of those players who has a phenomenal attitude, hungry to learn,” said van Graan in the aftermath.

“He had a disappointing end to a very good year last year with the red card and he has worked on his technique. He hasn’t said a word of it in terms of an excuse. He is just one of those guys that wants to get better week by week.

“What he does in our team in terms of leading the pack, he does it phenomenally and most of the time, he plays 80 minutes when he plays. He has had a very good pre-season and has started the season well.”

Top notch rookie response

Another of Bothwick’s summer tourists left stewing and excluded from the three-day training camp is Bristol hooker Gabriel Oghre. The 26-year-old, who hunkered down in 2022/23 at Leicester and Bordeaux after Wasps spectacularly collapsed, finished his first Bears season with selection to travel to Japan and New Zealand.

A debut cap eluded the front rower, the head coach sticking by his established Saracens pecking order of skipper Jamie George shadowed by clubmate Theo Dan.

The recent return to fitness of Luke Cowan-Dickie is now the reason why Oghre was cut from the latest England 36 but he responded perfectly to that setback with 13 carries versus Bath and the win-sealing 63rd-minute try off the back of a potent maul.

“It was amazing to score but it was a team try,” he chirped. “I dotted it down behind a maul so it was more relief to score and get to close that win. Just so happy with how everyone played. We did our jobs, executed really well.

What was the vibe from England? “Steve spoke to me and said the decision he went it. Obviously, it’s a really competitive position and I learned a lot on the tour.

“I definitely have the hunger in my belly to want to play for England but for me, it’s about focusing on playing well for Bristol, focusing on the things I learned on tour and putting that into practice in the games.”

That’s the sort of well-spoken response Borthwick should take kindly to a well-delivered on-pitch riposte.

Thomas still a tank

Argentina’s Grondona wasn’t the only Rugby Championship participant hurrying to England to get back on the Premiership treadmill. Thomas du Toit, who made the league’s 2023/24 dream team following an exquisite first season at Bath, equally clocked up the air miles following South Africa’s title win.

The tighthead started two of his country’s half-dozen tournament matches, most recently the away game in Argentina on September 21, and was with Rassie Erasmus' squad for their title-sealing success in the rematch with Los Pumas last weekend at Mbombela Stadium.

He was one of the few bright spots for Bath in their desperate first half, winning a scrum penalty and robbing Harry Randall for a try-saving turnover. Nine tackles he put in across his 63 minutes, quite an effort given that he wasn’t around for pre-season and only had two training sessions before starting.

“It will take some time for him to fully get back but he is a world-class player in my opinion,” suggested van Graan. “He hasn’t had a run of games that he can play three, four weeks in a row, so hopefully we can get him there over the next three weekends with the games we have coming up.

“But his attitude has been fantastic since he came back in on Tuesday and it was great to have him back.”