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Matt Kvesic stretchered off as Bristol secure hard-fought bonus point victory
Bristol secured a hard-fought 30-13 bonus point victory over a resilient Worcester at Ashton Gate. Tries from Piers O’Conor, Bryan Byrne, Siale Piutau and a penalty try – along with eight points from the boot of Wales international Ioan Lloyd – was enough to secure Pat Lam’s side their first victory of the Gallagher Premiership season.
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Tom Howe and Marco Mama crossed for Worcester with Billy Searle contributing three points from the kicking tee. Bristol started brightly with Lloyd kicking two early penalties before being forced to make a terrific try-saving tackle at the far left-hand corner on Nick David.
Worcester’s line speed in defence put their hosts under pressure with Searle opening their account with a simple penalty from right in front of the posts. But despite being under severe pressure in his own 22, Lloyd danced his way past four Worcester defenders before accelerating into a gap.
The 19-year-old raced 45 metres up-field before drawing his man to put O’Conor over for their first try. Worcester hit back in the 34th minute when Searle scooped up a loose ball before ghosting straight through a gap. Searle made it to Bristol’s 22 before offloading to put Howe over for a try. Worcester missed the conversion meaning Bristol held an 11-8 lead at the interval.
The visitors began the second-half strongly and took the lead after a powerful break from England international lock Ted Hill, who released the ball to Mama to touch down at the far right-hand corner to put the Warriors into a 13-11 lead. But Bristol quickly responded as their forwards shoved Worcester over their own line with Byrne touching down from short range courtesy of a well-worked driving lineout.
Bears turn on the style to get their first win of the season ?@WorcsWarriors ran them close up until the last 10 minutes, but @BristolBears grit their teeth and earn the bonus point ?
Fair result?#GallagherPrem #BRIvWOR pic.twitter.com/A5DOR2B3sw
— Premiership Rugby (@premrugby) November 28, 2020
Worcester were dealt a significant blow when openside flanker Matt Kvesic was stretchered off the field with a suspected dislocated shoulder. The visiting pack lay siege to the Bristol try line but, after a period of sustained pressure, the hosts were able to clear their lines.
Howe intercepted a Piutau pass and ran in unopposed from the half-way line but the try was disallowed for a high tackle from Oli Morris in the build-up. Such a close call served as a wake-up call for Bristol, whose strong driving lineout forced Andrew Kitchener into the sin-bin for illegally sacking a maul.
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And Bristol made the most of their numerical advantage with Piutau powering his way over the line after another strong lineout with Lloyd converting from the touchline. Bristol put the result beyond doubt with a driving lineout from 25 metres out being illegally pulled down by Conor Carey, who was yellow-carded, with the referee awarding a penalty try.
"He is 37 and the way he plays the game, you wouldn’t recognise he is 37”#GallagherPrem #BRIvWOR https://t.co/chkNRrdCHD
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 28, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
Pick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
15 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
4 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
4 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
15 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
15 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
4 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
15 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
15 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
15 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
15 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to comments