Signs of Euro hangover as Van Graan's Bath go down to Bristol

SATURDAY WRAP: Bristol kept themselves firmly in Premiership play-off contention after beating west country rivals Bath 36-14 at the Principality Stadium.

The Premiership’s first game in Wales attracted a crowd of 51,095, with an occasion Bristol billed as the club’s ‘Big Day Out’ not disappointing under a closed roof.

Bristol’s bonus-point win took them third ahead of next Friday’s crunch away clash against play-off rivals Sale Sharks.

And while a much-changed Bath – head of rugby Johann Van Graan made 13 changes following a European Challenge Cup semifinal victory over Edinburgh with his team already assured of Premiership top spot – battled hard, they came up short.

Bristol prevailed despite collecting four yellow cards and twice being temporarily reduced to 13 players as discipline frequently let them down.

Gabriel Ibitoye, Rich Lane, Fitz Harding, Gabriel Oghre, Will Capon and Viliame Mata scored Bristol’s tries, with AJ MacGinty kicking three conversions, while Ciaran Donoghue and Ewan Richards touched down for Bath, both converted by Donoghue.

Bath had to absorb almost 10 minutes of pressure from the kick-off as Bristol probed for an early score, but poor game-management and misdirected kicking frustrated Bears’ breakthrough attempts.

Bristol were then forced on to the back foot as Bath camped in their 22, and amid a flurry of penalties, Bears prop Max Lahiff was yellow-carded by referee Luke Pearce following a technical infringement.

Bath took the lead when wing Joe Cokanasiga broke through Bristol’s defence in midfield, and Donoghue applied an accomplished finish before adding the conversion for a 7-0 advantage.

Bristol continued to be their own worst enemies, and they again fell on the wrong side of Pearce when centre Benhard Janse van Rensburg challenged Bath captain Richards in the air from the restart and received a yellow card.

It meant Bristol were briefly reduced to 13 players, but they responded after Lahiff rejoined the action when Ibitoye crossed from close range.

Bristol built on that momentum, and they went ahead nine minutes before half-time when a flowing move at pace was finished by Lane, with MacGinty’s conversion opening up a 12-7 advantage.

The impressive Richards then put Bath back on the front foot through a strong midfield surge, yet Bristol ended a lively opening 40 minutes by breaching Bath’s defence for a third time.

A five-metre lineout gave them an attacking platform and Oghre touched down, with MacGinty’s conversion making it 19-7 at the interval.

And Bristol pulled further ahead just four minutes into the second period when skipper Harding crossed, securing a bonus-point and a 19-point advantage after MacGinty converted.

Bristol suffered an injury blow when flanker Steven Luatua limped off shortly afterwards, and Bath struck next through a Richards try that Donoghue converted.

It was a strong revival by Bath, whose cause was helped when Bristol lock Joe Batley and number eight Mata received yellow cards in quick succession.

The Bears suddenly found themselves hurled into a prolonged period of defending, but they coped impressively with the numerical disadvantage and showed sufficient composure to close out the contest, helped by tries for Capon and Mata, and collect five points during a play-off race now well down the home straight.

*Saracens kept their hopes of claiming a play-off spot alive by crushing Premiership bottom club Newcastle Falcons 75-28 on Saturday.

Newcastle stunned Saracens back in November with a 17-12 win at Kingston Park, but a fully-loaded Saracens, with their three newly-selected Lions in the starting line-up, exacted full revenge.

However, that surprise defeat to the Falcons could still prove costly as the London club may still have to beat both Bath and Northampton in their remaining fixtures to guarantee a play-off spot.

Saracens ran in 11 tries with Juan Martin Gonzalez scoring a hat-trick, Ben Earl adding two and Theo Dan, Ivan van Zyl, Maro Itoje, Charlie Bracken, Tom Willis and Jamie George scoring the others. Fergus Burke kicked seven conversions and Louie Johnson three.

Sam Stuart scored two tries for Newcastle with Freddie Lockwood and Ben Stevenson also on the scoresheet to earn a bonus point. Brett Connon converted all four tries.

Alex Goode led out Saracens for his 400th appearance for the club and his side were soon ahead when Gonzalez forced his way over to reward a period of sustained pressure.

Falcons conceded four penalties in the opening eight minutes and as a result were soon back under the cosh with Dan finishing off a driving line-out.

Newcastle responded with an excellent try. A well-timed pass from Connon sent Alex Hearle through a gap with the wing running 30 metres before providing Stuart with the scoring pass.

However, the respite was short-lived as Earl celebrated his Lions call-up by picking up from a scrum before brushing aside weak tackles from Stuart and Max Clark to score.

Saracens’ bonus-point try duly arrived in the 23rd minute and it was one of their best. Burke and Nick Tompkins combined neatly to send Tobias Elliott haring down the right flank. The wing was alert to see Van Zyl up in support on his inside to leave the scrum-half with an easy run-in.

New Lions captain Itoje was the next to celebrate his selection for this summer’s tour to Australia by finishing off a driving line-out before Lockwood rewarded Newcastle’s best period of the match with their second try.

Within 90 seconds of the restart, Gonzalez scored the best individual try of the afternoon by racing in from near halfway before repeating the dose minutes later to complete his hat-trick.

The flanker was then replaced before the lively Stuart darted over from a scrum for his second but replacement hooker George soon took Sarries past fifty points.

Stevenson ran powerfully down the left flank to earn Newcastle a bonus point, but late tries from Bracken, Willis and Earl ensured Saracens had the final say.

*Cadan Murley claimed a hat-trick of tries as Harlequins dealt a potentially fatal blow to Gloucester’s Premiership play-off hopes with a 38-19 victory.

Quins might be out of the race for a top-four finish but they delivered one of their most ruthless displays of the season in a six-try demolition that saw Rodrigo Isgro cross twice.

Making their rout possible was an accommodating Gloucester defence that gave player of the match Murley, Isgro and Tyrone Green the freedom of a sun-drenched Twickenham.

Marcus Smith celebrated his British and Irish Lions selection on Thursday with a commanding display that was short on fireworks but notable for the intelligent way he piloted the team around the field.

Gloucester lacked hunger for the fight and paid the price with an emphatic defeat that leaves them in sixth place, three points adrift of the play-offs with two matches remaining.

In a sign of their dominance, Quins had banked the bonus point by half-time with Murley crossing for two of their four tries, and they would have scored two more but for errors at crucial moments.

Good fortune enabled Murley’s opener with Smith’s pass to Alex Dombrandt looking suspiciously forward, but there was no arguing with the quality of the finish by the England wing.

Murley then showed his pace to outrun Christian Wade in a foot race before Green inexcusably dropped the ball over the line and Dombrandt saw an opportunist try disallowed for offside at the line-out.

Quins quickly rallied from the setback of having successive tries chalked off, Will Evans finishing a line-out maul, and the hosts then ran amok in the face of Gloucester’s defensive collapse, which was not helped by Chris Harris’ departure with injury.

Player after player slipped off tackles, allowing Isgro and Murley to touch down with Green impressing through his footwork.

The ease of Murley’s second try will give Gloucester nightmares as he ghosted into the line from a tap penalty before straightening to evade the visitors’ last line of defence with ease.

Only Wade’s screaming finish in the 33rd minute – his 91st Premiership try, leaving him 10 behind the record held by Chris Ashton – spared the visitors from a total shut-out in the first half as their backs clicked into gear.

Gloucester needed a big second half to save their Premiership season but just nine minutes in they cracked for a fifth time as Isgro raced across the field, capitalising on hesitation in the midfield to help send Murley over for his hat-trick.

Dombrandt and then Ruan Ackermann were sent to the sin bin, robbing the match of both number eights, before the Quins onslaught continued with Isgro grabbing his second.

Gloucester hit back through tries by Santiago Carreras and Jack Cotgreave, but it was too little too late.

Saracens 75-28 Newcastle Falcons

For Saracens:
Tries: Gonzalez 3, Dan, Earl 2, Van Zyl, Itoje, George, Bracken, Willis
Cons: Burke 7, Johnson 3

For Newcastle:
Tries: Stuart 2, Lockwood, Stevenson
Cons: Connon 4

Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Tobias Elliott, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Rotimi Segun, 10 Fergus Burke, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Ben Earl, 7 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 6 Theo McFarland, 5 Nick Isiekwe, 4 Maro Itoje (captain), 3 Alec Clarey, 2 Theo Dan, 1 Eroni Mawi
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Sam Crean, 18 Harvey Beaton, 19 Tom Willis, 20 Andy Onyeama-Christie, 21 Charlie Bracken, 22 Louie Johnson, 23 Angus Hall

Newcastle Falcons: 15 Elliott Obatoyinbo, 14 Alex Hearle, 13 Connor Doherty, 12 Sammy Arnold, 11 Ben Stevenson, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Sam Stuart, 8 Callum Chick (captain), 7 Cameron Neild, 6 Freddie Lockwood, 5 John Hawkins, 4 Sebastian de Chaves, 3 Murray McCallum, 2 Jamie Blamire, 1 Adam Brocklebank
Replacements: 16 Ollie Fletcher, 17 Micky Rewcastle, 18 Luan de Bruin, 19 Oscar Usher, 20 Tom Gordon, 21 Joe Davis, 22 Max Clark, 23 Oli Spencer

Referee: Jack Makepeace
Assistant Referees: Christophe Ridley, Greg Macdonald
TMO: Stuart Terheege

Bristol Bears 36-14 Bath

The scorers:

For Bristol:
Tries: Ibitoye, Lane, Oghre, Harding, Capon, Mata
Cons: MacGinty 3

For Bath:
Tries: Donoghue, Richards
Cons: Donoghue 2

Bristol Bears: 15 Rich Lane, 14 Kalaveti Ravouvou, 13 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 12 James Williams, 11 Gabriel Ibitoye, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Harry Randall, 8 Viliame Mata, 7 Fitz Harding (c), 6 Steven Luatua, 5 Joe Batley, 4 Josh Caulfield, 3 Max Lahiff, 2 Gabriel Oghre, 1 Ellis Genge
Replacements: 16 Will Capon, 17 Yann Thomas, 18 George Kloska, 19 James Dun, 20 Joe Owen, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Siva Naulago, 23 Santiago Grondona

Bath: 15 Tom de Glanville, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Louie Hennessey, 12 Orlando Bailey, 11 Austin Emens, 10 Ciaran Donoghue, 9 Louis Schreuder, 8 Arthur Green, 7 Ethan Staddon, 6 Josh Bayliss, 5 Ross Molony, 4 Ewan Richards (c), 3 Archie Griffin, 2 Jasper Spandler, 1 Francois van Wyk
Replacements: 16 Kepu Tuipulotu, 17 Arthur Cordwell, 18 Kieran Verden, 19 Will Jeanes, 20 Tom Cowan, 21 Tom Carr-Smith, 22 Ruaridh McConnochie, 23 Miles Reid

Referee: Luke Pearce
Assistant Referees: Dan Jones, Simon Harding
TMO: David Rose

Harlequins 38-19 Gloucester

The scorers:

For Harlequins:
Tries: Murley 3, Evans, Isgro 2
Cons: M Smith 4

For Gloucester:
Tries: Wade, Carreras, Cotgreave
Cons: Carreras 2

Harlequins: 15 Tyrone Green, 14 Rodrigo Isgro, 13 Oscar Beard, 12 Ben Waghorn, 11 Cadan Murley, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Will Porter, 8 Alex Dombrandt (c), 7 Will Evans, 6 Jack Kenningham, 5 George Hammond, 4 Irne Herbst, 3 Titi Lamositele, 2 Jack Walker, 1 Fin Baxter
Replacements: 16 Nathan Jibulu, 17 Jordan Els, 18 Ollie Streeter, 19 Joe Launchbury, 20 Tom Lawday, 21 Jake Murray, 22 Jamie Benson, 23 Luke Northmore

Gloucester: 15 Santi Carreras, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Seb Atkinson, 11 Jake Morris, 10 Gareth Anscombe, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Ruan Ackermann, 7 Lewis Ludlow (c), 6 Jack Clement, 5 Freddie Thomas, 4 Arthur Clark, 3 Afo Fasogbon, 2 Seb Blake, 1 Val Rapava Ruskin
Replacements: 16 Jack Singleton, 17 Ciaran Knight, 18 Kirill Gotovtsev, 19 Cam Jordan, 20 Freddie Clarke, 21 Caolan Englefield, 22 Charlie Atkinson, 23 Jack Cotgreave

Referee: Adam Leal
Assistant Referees: Anthony Woodthorpe, John Meredith
TMO: Ian Tempest