Just as Bath seized momentum, though, Bristol popped it. MacGinty broke and Sam Underhill, who had replaced Guy Pepper a couple of minutes previously, was sin-binned for slowing down the ruck. Bristol’s heroic forwards fancied a maul, and heaved Oghre over.
While Lawrence tip-toed down the touchline for a consolation, the match ended with Bristol defenders hurling themselves into harm’s way and causing their neighbours to cough up possession. “The Premiership is a phenomenal competition,” said a magnanimous Van Graan. “If you are only 90 per cent on your game, you will get beaten like we did today.”
Match details
Scoring: 0-5 Malins try, 0-7 MacGinty con, 5-7 Harris try, 7-7 Russell con, 7-12 S Grondona try, 7-14 MacGinty con, 7-19 Janse van Rensburg try, 7-24 S Grondona try, 7-26 MacGinty con, 7-29 MacGinty penalty, 12-29 Butt try, 14-29 Russell con, 19-29 Molony try, 21-29 Russell con, 21-34 Oghre try, 21-36 MacGinty con, 26-36 Lawrence try
Bath: S Harris (C Redpath, 53); T de Glanville, O Lawrence, W Butt, R McConnochie (L Schreuder, 72); F Russell, B Spencer; B Obano (F van Wyk, 43-53, 64), N Annett (T Dunn, 52), T du Toit (W Stuart, 64), Q le Roux (R Molony, 57), C Ewels, T Hill, G Pepper (S Underhill, 57), M Reid (J Coetzee, 53)
Bristol Bears: M Malins (J Bates, 78); R Lane, B Janse van Rensburg, J Williams (J Jenkins, 16), G Ibitoye; A MacGinty, H Randall (K Marmion, 78); E Genge (J Woolmore, 55), G Oghre (W Capon, 45-54), M Lahiff (G Kloska, 55), J Dun (J Owen, 74), J Batley, S Luatua (B Grondona, 78), S Grondona, F Harding
Referee: Mr C Ridley
Yellow cards: S Grondona, 49, S Underhill 62