Prem
Bristol(12) 36
try: Rees-Zammit 2, Moroney, Shewward, Ravuwu, Ogre shortcoming: Jordan 2, Williams
Newcastle(17) 27
try: McCallum, Spencer 2, Leatherbarrow shortcoming: Kangnong No. 2 Pen: Connon
Bristol Bears’ strong second half saw them beat Newcastle United 36-27 as the Red Bulls saw their chance to end their wait for a Premier League win.
The victory moved Bristol up to second in the table ahead of the remaining weekend games, with two crosses from Louis Rees-Zammit and goals from Mathias Moroney, Kalaviti Lavuvo, Noah Heward and Gabriel Ogle.
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Newcastle United held the lead for much of the game until the 56th minute, when Oli Spencer’s brace, combined with strikes from Murray McCallum and Ollie Leatherbarrow, earned them a try bonus point to take their first points of the season.
But the dam burst when the home side finally took the lead and although Bristol’s lack of discipline saw them field just 13 men, they did enough to secure a fifth win in their last six Premier League games.
A first-half loss to Bath six days ago showed signs of promise and, having won two more European Cups this month, the Red Bulls struck quickly to take on a Bristol side with their own high-speed attacking game.
McCallum quickly completed a fluid attack on a varied offense within six minutes before Spencer scooped the ball up from the ground and past Ravuwu for a one-handed touchdown to make it 10-0.
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Bristol showed how quickly they could turn things around with two tries in the space of two minutes, with space opening up for Rees-Zammit and him having time to get his arms in the air before diving.
The Welshman, who plays at full-back, found the back of the net again almost immediately but he punched a hole in the Newcastle defense before passing the ball to Morrone on his shoulder and running past.
In the first half, Leatherbarrow worked hard under the goal post, but Newcastle still took the initiative in the game. The Red Bulls attacked heavily and chased the score to 17-12.
Brett Connon’s penalty extended the visitors’ lead to 20-12 early in the second half, signaling the start of a change for Bears coach Pat Lam, which was soon rewarded when substitute Oghre played a one-two with goalkeeper Heward.
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Newcastle were on the attack again, with Sammy Arnold breaking through the defence, Alex Heller breaking through two defenders and Spencer outside adding their second.
But Bristol’s new blood – led by the furious Ellis Genge – beat them with three shots in 10 minutes and handed Newcastle their 19th consecutive defeat.
Ravouvou ran in on the overlap, Rees-Zammit got past three Newcastle players for the second time and Oghre scored after being red-carded for contact with Batley’s head in a tackle, their only major stain of the day.
Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam told BBC Radio Bristol:
“The five points were hard earned and Newcastle did a great job, they really gave it to us. We made changes in the group, we didn’t really get the ball on the front foot and they slowed us down with the ball, but there was a lot of quality at the end.
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“It’s good to get five points, the most important thing is the six-day sales cycle [on 2 January] We revived some players who didn’t play today.
“It was a game where we scored again and then we let them in and we knew most of their attempts were going to score if they went in, so we’re not talking about anything for free. Some of the penalties we got that put them in there early on were certainly problematic but we have to look at ourselves.”
“It was frustrating for us that we had a lot of disconnects and they were allowed to go obviously offside to stop some of those plays, but I liked the way the kids played in the last 10 minutes, 13, 14, five points.”
Bristol: Rees-Zammit; Heward, Moroney, Williams, Lavuvo; Jordan, Randall; Rashif, Thacker, Chawatama; Taylor, Bartley, Owen, Harding (middle), Mata.
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Alternatives: Ogle, Genge, Halliwell, Rubiolo, Ivanishvili, Wolstenholm, Worsley, Lane.
Xin Bin: Karavedi Ravuwu(77)
Red card 20 minutes: Bartley(66)
Newcastle: Grayson; Spencer, Heller, Arnold, Obatoyinbo; Connon, Benitez Cruz; Brockbank, McGuigan (c), McCallum; Usher, De Chavez, Gordon, Christie, Leatherbarrow.
Alternatives: Fletcher, Hancock, Palflaman, Baker, Maffei, Elliott, Hutcheson, Chamberlain.
referee: George Selwood
