By Ben Thorne
Gloucester Rugby won their West Country derby against Bristol Bears in the most dramatic fashion as George Barton’s 78th minute penalty saw them take the spoils, winning 44-41.
It seemed the Bears were about to pull of a dramatic comeback as late tries scored by Rich Lane and Max Malins (two), drew the hosts level with the score locked at 41-41 going into the dying embers of the game.
But the Cherry and Whites had enough to hold on thanks to tries from Freddie Thomas and Gareth Anscombe as well as a Christian Wade hattrick.
Gabriel Ibitoye, Siva Naulago and Harry Randall completed the try scorers, as two teams locked horns in an enthralling contest.
The Bears started rapidly, scoring off of their first phase of attack in the second minute; winger Gabriel Ibitoye ran a short line following the first lineout of the game to break through the Gloucester line and crash over.
Fly half, AJ MacGinty, added the extra two points to give his side an early 7-0 lead.
The visitors replied very quickly, started brilliantly by Max Llewellyn who stepped inside Naulago giving Wade the space to run around Malins to score his first try of the evening.
Gloucester doubled their lead as Thomas scored an exquisite try. The second row recieved the ball from a short line before transferring it to Jack Clement quickly in support, after carrying forward the flanker was able to find Thomas again as he steamed onto the ball for the second time to cross the whitewash.
It was a double blow for the Bears, as winger Naulago was shown a yellow card for a high hit on Clement in the build-up, just before Barton kicked his second conversion making the score 14-7.
Moments later another Bear was shown a yellow card, as Randall was sent to the sin bin for preventing his opposite number from going quickly at a penalty.
The half went from bad to worse for Bristol as the Cherry and White’s Welsh duo combined to score their third try of the evening.
With penalty advantage, Tomos Williams chipped the ball into the in goal area where it was caught and dotted down by Anscombe, Barton kicked the extras to make it 21-7 after 23 minutes.
After a period of pressure deep in the Gloucester 22, Bristol earnt a penalty which (with 13 men on the field) was kicked to goal, cutting the points deficit to 11 as Naulago returned to the field.
It seemed Bristol were going to close the gap even more after a MacGinty line break gave the Bears an overlap on the right flank, but veteran winger Wade read Malins pass to intercept and score his second, from no less than 80 metres away.
On the stroke of half time Bristol did pull one back; a driving maul was collapsed by the Cherry and Whites giving the Bristolian side free ball, the ball came out the back to Malins who threw a 30 yard pass to Naulago to dot down in the corner.
MacGinty missed the conversion, confirming the half time score as 28-15 in favour of the Cherry and Whites.
A Gabriel Oghre knock on started the second half, giving Gloucester the ball deep in the Bristol 22. After Jake Heenan conceded a penalty, Barton extended the visitors lead to 31-15, kicking the ball through the middle of the posts.
After an extended period of play in the Gloucester 22, Bristol eventually scored their third as scrum half Randall threw a dummy before diving over from a metre away.
Less than a minute after MacGinty kicked the conversion, Barton kicked another penalty after Bristol were penalised at a scrum, making the score 34-22.
In the 61st minute, Christian Wade completed his hattrick, scoring the sixth of his career.
With seemingly nothing on, the winger put a grubber kick in behind Ibitoye and managed to retrieve it before evading Malins to cross the line in the corner, even managing to run across the in goal area to dot down beneath the posts.
Barton continued his flawless performance with the boot, making the score 41-22, with 17 minutes to play.
Soon after the Bears replied again, after numerous carries on the Gloucester five metre line Randall zipped the ball into the path of Malins who carried the ball over.
With 10 minutes to play the Bristol full back scored again as his side did incredibly well to create an overlap on the left flank, MacGinty converted the try reducing the score to 41-36.
Benhard Janse van Rensburg caught the restart and was hit high by Wade, who was shown a yellow card, reducing the Cherry and Whites to 14 men.
Moments later, substitute Rich Lane received the ball wide on his left flank before running 15 metres down the touchline to cross the whitewash, drawing the Bears level.
Another Bristol knock-on directly from the restart gave Gloucester an opportunity to have possession in their opponents red zone, the move culminated in a Barton penalty which he kicked to give the visitors a three point lead with two minutes to play.
With mere seconds to play, Bristol Bears won a scrum penalty which MacGinty kicked deep into the Gloucester 22, giving the hosts a final opportunity to take the game; however, a jackal penalty won by Harry Taylor handed the visitors the game, winning at Ashton Gate for the first time since Pat Lam was appointed Bristol boss in 2017.
BRISTOL BEARS:
TRIES: 6 (Ibitoye 2’, Naulago 39’, Randall 50’, Malins 66’, 70’, Lane 73’)
CONVERSIONS: 4 (MacGinty 2’, 51’, 66’ 70’)
PENALTIES: 1 (MacGinty 29’)
DROP GOALS: 0
YELLOW CARDS: 2 (Naulago 18’, Randall 21’)
RED CARDS: 0
15. Max Malins 14. Siva Naulago 13. Benhard Janse van Rensburg 12. James Williams 11. Gabriel Ibitoye 10. AJ MacGinty 9. Harry Randall 1. Ellis Genge 2. Gabriel Oghre 3. George Kloska 4. James Dun 5. Joe Batley 6. Steven Luatua 7. Jake Heenan 8. Fitz Harding (c)
Replacements
16. Will Capon 17. Jake Woolmore 18. Max Lahiff 19. Josh Caulfield 20. Benjamin Grondona 21. Kieran Marmion 22. Joe Jenkins 23. Rich Lane
GLOUCESTER RUGBY:
TRIES: 5 (Wade 8’, 35’, 61’, Thomas 18’, Anscombe 23’)
CONVERSIONS: 5 (Barton 9’, 19’, 24’, 36’, 63’)
PENALTIES: 3 (Barton 43’, 52’, 78’)
DROP GOALS: 0
YELLOW CARDS: 1 (Wade 71’)
RED CARDS: 0
15. George Barton 14. Christian Wade 13. Chris Harris 12. Seb Atkinson 11. Max Llewellyn 10. Gareth Anscombe 9. Tomos Williams (c) 1. Mayco Vivas 2. Jack Singleton 3. Kirill Gotovstev 4. Freddie Thomas 5. Matias Alemanno 6. Jack Clement 7. Harry Taylor 8. Zach Mercer
Replacements: 16. Seb Blake 17. Jamal Ford-Robinson 18. Afo Fasogbon 19. Freddie Clarke 20. Ruan Ackermann 21. Albert Tuisue 22. Caolan Englefield 23. Charlie Atkinson