Gloucester bully Bristol at home
Jonny May touched down to conclude a length of the field score to earn Gloucester Rugby a try bonus point.
Billy Burns scored 17 points, including a try of his own, as Gloucester earned their first away victory in the Premiership Rugby since September with Sharples going over early.
Lewis Ludlow added a third before Max Crumpton’s consolation score but there was still time for Willi Heinz to launch an attack from his own try line which May finished for the extra point.
A successful Burns penalty put Gloucester ahead with just two minutes played at Ashton Gate as fullback Jason Woodward was penalised at a ruck.
Woodward then missed two penalty attempts in quick succession as Bristol failed to punish a high Gloucester error count during the opening ten minutes.
Bristol’s young flyhalf Billy Searle made no mistake with his first attempt of the night however and he brought the hosts level at 3-3 after 11 minutes.
The decisive score of the first half came just two minutes later as Gloucester exploited an overlap on the blind side and neat hands from Richard Hibbard and Paddy McAllister put Sharples into space.
The Gloucester wing, only on the field as a blood replacement for May, made no mistake and touched down in the corner to restore the visitors’ lead.
Burns added the conversion and a 36th minute penalty from the flyhalf had Gloucester in control with a ten point advantage.
But JP Doyle, with the help of the TMO, adjudged Gloucester’s Tom Marshall to have deliberately knocked on shortly after and the fullback was sent to the sin bin.
Searle added his second penalty of the evening to send the sides into half-time 13-6.
A third Searle penalty from straight in front of the posts, as Gloucester were penalised at the scrum, reduced the arrears though after 53 minutes.
But the Cherry & Whites had their second try just two minutes later when Heinz’s clever kick towards the corner was missed by the sliding Luke Arscott.
May was on hand to gather before popping the ball off to Burns who was free to run the ball under the posts and convert his own try to make it 20-9.
Lewis Ludlow had the Cherry & Whites third score when a successful driving maul saw the replacement force his way over with Burns missing the conversion.
Replacement Crumpton charged over from close range for a consolation score but there was still time for Gloucester to claim the try bonus point with a devastating counter attack.
Heinz collected the ball on his own try line and instead of ending the game launched an attack with Marshall eventually feeding May to run in the vital final score.
Burns added the conversion to make the final score 32-14 to the visitors.
The teams:
For Bristol:
Try: Crumpton
Pens: Searle 3
For Gloucester:
Tries: Sharples, Burns, Ludlow, May
Cons: Burns 3
Pens: Burns 2
Yellow Card: Marshall (Gloucester, 38 – Deliberately knocked on)
Bristol: 15 Jason Woodward, 14 Jack Wallace, 13 Will Hurrell, 12 Tusi Pisi, 11 David Lemi, 10 Billy Searle, 9 Alby Mathewson, 8 Mitch Eadie, 7 Jack Lam, 6 Sam Jeffries, 5 Mark Sorenson, 4 James Phillips, 3 Gaston Cortes, 2 Marc Jones (captain), 1 Ryan Bevington
Replacements: 16 Max Crumpton, 17 Jack O’Connell, 18 Jamal Ford-Robinson, 19 Jordan Crane, 20 Nick Fenton-Wells, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Jack Tovey, 23 Luke Arscott
Gloucester: 15 Tom Marshall, 14 Jonny May, 13 Henry Trinder, 12 Andy Symons, 11 David Halaifonua, 10 Billy Burns, 9 Willi Heinz (captain), 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Jacob Rowan, 6 Sione Kalamafoni, 5 Jeremy Thrush, 4 Tom Savage, 3 Josh Hohneck, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Paddy McAllister
Replacements: 16 Motu Matu’u, 17 Yann Thomas, 18 Paul Doran-Jones, 19 Tom Denton, 20 Lewis Ludlow, 21 Callum Braley, 22 Billy Twelvetrees, 23 Charlie Sharples
Referee: JP Doyle
Assistant Referees: Jack Makepeace, Ross Campbell
TMO: Rowan Kitt
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