Discounted Sharks 14 Bristol Bears 22
It’s a new year and new hope for Bristol, who produced a thrilling, high-tempo display to snap Sale’s 12-match Gallagher Premiership winning streak on home soil.
Pat Lam’s men arrived in Salford having endured an inconsistent campaign, but this was a performance and a victory to be savored.
It was built around aggression and tenacious defence, and was illuminated by tries from scrum-half Harry Randall, wing Gabriel Ibitoye and full-back Max Malins.
Malins was outstanding in defense and attack, producing a try-saving tackle to deny Sale’s Joe Carpenter a certain try in the first half before getting on the scoresheet himself for a crucial score two minutes after the break.
Lam, Bristol’s triumphant director of rugby, said: “Max made some great saves but I thought our back three was excellent with Noah Heward and Ibitoye.
“This is probably the hardest place to come to and to be the first team to win it in such a long time is huge. We knew we had to have a really strong Sales team, and we were.”
You had to go back 14 months for Sale to last lose a Premiership game on this ground and director of rugby Alex Sanderson could not hide his anger.
Sale often lacked the clinical edge each time he entered the Bristol area and Sanderson was almost beside himself afterwards.
He fumed: “We were inconsistent in the fights, sloppy with discipline and didn’t take our chances. We need to move forward more accurately, and we will. I’m not bothered [losing] our home record. I just want a consistent performance every week and we didn’t get that today.
“We need to get a few meters better if we want to win this thing. We had eight visits (on the 22nd) and only converted a few. We need to get at least a 50% conversion rate. That’s the area we need to improve.”
There was energy from the first moment for Bristol and it was no surprise when they opened the scoring in the seventh minute after Randall drilled under the posts from close range.
Former Sale fly-half AJ MacGinty added the conversion and this early advantage gave Bristol confidence.
Sale slowly recovered, came onto the field and made a promising move in the 16th minute.
Carpenter, a determined competitor and always a willing runner, backed a charge and powered his way into the heart of Bristol’s 22-metre line.
Its progress had been halted, but this hinted at the possibilities available for Sale.
But two minutes later, Bristol plundered their second try, attacking with Gus Warr’s spot-kick down the left channel catching Josh Caulfield latching on.
Ibitoye gained possession of the ball and showed impressive speed and power to race past Carpenter and score from the corner before celebrating enthusiastically.
For Bristol it was a classic scam; remain calm under pressure and then strike the enemy when they least expect it.
MacGinty’s second conversion made it 14-0 and Sale finally got off target in the 31st minute when Jonny Hill took Randall’s shot and galloped over the line, while Rob Du Preez’s conversion halved Bristol’s lead.
However, the visitors maintained a persistent threat, with Malins pushing forward from full-back at every opportunity.
Sale thought they had their second try as the break approached; Carpenter showed outstanding speed towards the right corner, but his foot was diverted into touch by Malins.
It was an excellent defensive effort and tensions were building between both groups of players as we headed towards the tunnel at half-time.
But Bristol kept their head and scored their third try shortly after the break.
The Bears played the ball across Sale’s defense inside the 22-metre line and Dan Thomas’ deft offload led Malins into the left corner.
The first try of the second half was always crucial and the drive to Bristol set the stage for a famous away win.
The sales came back strongly as the second half progressed and they enjoyed long periods where they battered Bristol’s line.
With 12 minutes remaining, the pressure finally showed when substitute hooker Agustin Creevy cut inside the left channel and Du Preez converted.
However, Sale’s desperation to save the game hurt them in the final 10 minutes; first Telusa Veainu, then Ben Bamber were sin-binned for dangerous tackles and MacGinty scored a penalty to confirm Bristol’s memorable win and seal his former club’s misery.