Bristol Bears destruction 'probably the worst' night of Pat Lam's rugby life

Northampton director of rugby Phil Dowson was delighted with how his team bounced back from defeat at Leicester to seal a Gallagher Prem semi-final spot with a 94-33 annihilation of Bristol.

The records tumbled at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens as Northampton scored their most points in a league game and the most by any team in a first half in the competition’s history with 61.

It was also the most points Bristol – who shipped 14 of the 19 tries scored overall – have ever conceded in a Prem game as an embarrassing night for them all-but ended their play-off hopes.

Dowson said: “We were very disappointed last week. We were well and truly hammered at (Leicester) Tigers and that hurt and I think you probably saw how much that hurt today.

“I thought we reflected really well on that game in our preparation for it and actually how we’ve been playing for the last couple of weeks and what it means to get momentum and confidence back into a group.

“The way we trained Monday, the way we trained Wednesday and the way we connected yesterday, I thought was outstanding and it was reflected in how we played.

“There were loads of small subplots, with Colesy (Alex Coles) and TP (Tom Pearson) coming back. I’m delighted to see those guys back.

“I thought some of our defence was good – getting turnovers in your own 22 is a big part of the game and early on, when it was close, we came up with some of those.”

George Hendy led the charge for Northampton by scoring four tries, with the hosts also crossing through braces from Rory Hutchinson and Archie McParland, and one apiece from Callum Chick, Alex Coles, George Furbank, Josh Kemeny, Henry Pollock and Sam Graham.

Harry Thacker, Louis Rees-Zammit, Harry Randall, Lukas Ivanishvili and Noah Heward replied with tries for the visitors.

Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam said: “I’ve had some nights like that before, but that was probably the worst.

“Firstly, well done Saints, they were on fire.

“They made the most of every opportunity – turnovers, yellow cards – and they played really well, while we obviously couldn’t stop it.

“It was just one of those nights and certainly in rugby terms, that was one of the hardest ones. But in life terms, there are a lot of tougher things I’ve faced.

“I think you’ve got to give context to where we’re at and the challenges that we’ve faced and we’ve adapted really well.

“Throughout the whole season there are a few clubs that have struggled with injuries and the boys have challenged well to get where we are.

“But this happens in life: you get a bad day and that was a really bad day, an embarrassing day and I’ve already apologised to our supporters.”