LRZ and England star ruin Courtney Lawes' PREM return

Courtney Lawes’ Sale debut ended in defeat as Bristol ran in five tries to open their Prem Rugby campaign with an entertaining 34-24 win in Salford.

The 37-year-old England great made his first appearance in the competition since he led Northampton to the title at Twickenham in 2024 but it was Pat Lam’s Bears who took the spoils.

After two seasons with French club Brive, Lawes has returned to England with Sale and he started in the back row as one of two debutants in the starting line-up alongside scrum-half Xavier Roe from New Zealand.

The Sharks touched down through hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie and a brace from winger Tom O’Flaherty but Bristol duo Louis Rees-Zammit and Harry Randall both scored twice before team-mate Tomas Gwilliam added a late fifth.

Sale’s trio of new Wales forwards – Nicky Smith, Tomas Francis and Christ Tshiunza – all started on the bench against a Bristol side which included no new faces in the team after flanker Ethan Staddon suffered an ACL injury.

He was joined on the sidelines by Kalaveti Ravouvou and Noah Heward, although Argentina lock Pedro Rubiolo was fit enough to play his first game since January.

Bristol forced the early pressure but former Sale fly-half AJ MacGinty missed a relatively straightforward penalty early on.

From there Sale began to enjoy a period of pressure which culminated in Cowan-Dickie squeezing over from close range inside the right channel after good work from Roe moments earlier.

George Ford added the conversion to make it 7-0 before Bristol came back and had a try from full-back Tom Jordan ruled out following a quickly taken lineout.

But the Bears claimed their first try in the 12th minute when James Williams’ long pass found Rees-Zammit and the Wales international dived over in the right corner.

Ford then booted a penalty for Sale but Rees-Zammit had his second try for Bristol in the 23rd minute after taking a pass from Jordan and crossing in the right corner again.

A minute before the interval, the visitors scored their third try when scrum-half Randall collected possession and dived over from close range.

Williams, who had scored a penalty in the 31st minute, then converted Randall’s try to give Bristol a 20-10 interval lead.

Early in the second half, Sale winger O’Flaherty raced clear to score in the right corner and Ford’s second conversion cut Bristol’s lead to three points.

After a period of pressure on Sale’s line, Bristol had their fourth try in the 57th minute when Randall sniped over the line from close range.

O’Flaherty finished well again for his second but Gwilliam powered over from close range for Bristol’s fifth and Williams added his third conversion to leave Sale empty-handed.