Kalaveti Ravouvou scored Bristol’s winning try against Sale with nine minutes left on the clock
The Prem, Ashton Gate
Bristol (7) 19
Tries: Owen, Moroni, Ravouvou Cons: Jordan, Williams
Sale (7) 17
Tries: O’Flaherty, van Rhyn Cons: Ford (2) Pens: Ford
A late try from Kalaveti Ravouvou, scored with just nine minutes remaining, secured a hard-fought victory for Bristol Bears over Sale Sharks at Ashton Gate, propelling them to the top of The Prem.
Tom O’Flaherty, Sale’s winger, opened the scoring with the first try of the match, before Joe Owen responded for Bristol on the cusp of half-time, leveling the score at 7-7 as the teams headed into the break.
Sharks captain Ernst van Rhyn and a penalty from George Ford put the visitors back in the lead, but Matias Moroni’s try narrowed the gap to just five points for Bristol.
Despite facing a formidable Sale defense that largely stifled their attacking efforts, Bristol managed to find their rhythm and set up Ravouvou for the decisive try.
With Rekeiti Ma’asi-White in the sin-bin, Bristol maintained possession amidst contact, eventually creating space for Jimmy Williams to break through the midfield.
He continued the play towards the left wing, where Ravouvou executed a sharp cut inside, evading the covering defense and scoring under the posts in classic Bristol style.
This marked Bristol’s fourth consecutive Prem victory, and despite early-season injury setbacks, they are emerging as serious contenders for the title.
Sale, on the other hand, will need a strong showing in the latter half of the season to secure a play-off spot, currently sitting 12 points outside the top four.
They will undoubtedly be disappointed at failing to capitalize on their dominance, having effectively limited Bristol’s attacking opportunities by closing down space in midfield and restricting plays in the wider channels.
The visitors drew first blood when Raffi Quirke, the scrum-half who was moved to the wing after Alex Wills sustained a head injury, initiated a break before play was shifted to the right, where O’Flaherty outpaced Ravouvou to score in the corner.
Bristol was twice denied near the try line, but flanker Owen eventually powered over in the final play of the half, leveling the score.
Sale regained the lead early in the second half with a powerful maul that brought them close to the line, allowing van Rhyn to muscle over, and a subsequent Ford penalty extended their advantage to 17-7.
Needing to regain a foothold, Bristol capitalized on a high tackle by Ford to gain rare territory, creating space on the right wing for Moroni to score in the corner, bringing them within five points.
Bristol then won a penalty in midfield and, from the ensuing line-out, released Moroni again, who nearly crossed the line before Ma’asi-White conceded a penalty at the ruck, resulting in a critical yellow card.
However, a knock-on and a missed line-out allowed Sale to survive, and it seemed as though it would be their night before Bristol orchestrated their winning score in dramatic fashion.
Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam told BBC Radio Bristol:
“I’m so proud. When you consider what we’re going through with injuries, people think it’s over but the others have stepped up.
“There’s so many shared experiences that we’re growing with on and off the field and it’s holding us in great stead.
“I said, ‘Let’s treat this like a final,’ because we knew we win this game and we’re top of the table, so let’s go for it, and that was finals rugby.”
Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson said:
“It’s a tough one to take as we turned up with the right mentality and we were executing our game plan well.
“However, we let them out of their half too easily and that resulted in swings of 60-70 metres, and although we defended well, they were repeatedly knocking at our door and eventually it had to give way.
“Losing players to injury and enforced rest periods for some others upset our cohesion and that proved costly in the last 10 minutes, especially after the yellow card.”
Bristol: Rees-Zammit, Boshoff, Janse van Rensburg, Williams, Ravouvou; Jordan, Randall; Genge, Oghre, Chawatama, Rubiolo, Owen, Grondona, Harding (c), Mata.
Replacements: Thacker, Lahiff, Kloska, Taylor, Grondona, Marmion, Worsley, Heward.
Sale: Carpenter, O’Flaherty, du Preez, Ma’asi-White, Wills; Ford, Quirke; Rodd, Cowan-Dickie, Harper, Bamber, van Rhyn (c), Vermeulen, Dugdale, T Curry.
Replacements: Jibulu, McIntyre, Bell, Burrow, Gilmore, Warr, Louw, Wehr.
Yellow Card: Ma’asi-White.
Referee: Joe James.
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