Bristol Bears edge rivals Bath Rugby in 15-13 thriller

February 26, 2023
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Ultimate Rugby

Bristol Bears complete a south west derby double over Bath Rugby after a narrow 15-13 win on rival turf at The Recreation Ground.

Tries from James Williams and Siva Naulago saw Bristol Bears battle past local rivals Bath in a blood and thunder West Country derby at The Rec.

Williams applied the acrobatic finishing touches to a sensational break and offload from man of the match Semi Radradra midway through the first half, but Miles Reid's close-range try and Piers Francis' penalty gave the hosts a narrow lead at the interval.

The Bears flew out of the blocks after half-time and retook the lead courtesy of Siva Naulago's dynamic finish in the right-hand corner.

Francis' second penalty edged Bath back in front, before MacGinty returned the favour 14 minutes from time to setup a tense finale.

With time ticking away, Francis saw his long-range penalty effort drift wide of the posts as Pat Lam's men held on for a second successive win in the Gallagher Premiership.

Match Report: Bath Rugby 13-15 Bristol Bears

Bristol Bears' Semi Radradra: "We are really happy, especially to come out here against Bath - we know it's a tough game. We had a tough game last week, we tried to do the same thing as always and we finally had a win tonight.

"At half-time we knew we'd let ourselves down, we'd given away a few penalties. Come the second half we tried to sort our discipline out and the boys did.

"We need to keeping move forward, there's positives and negatives from tonight. We know that we can still make the finals. We try to focus on game by game now."