Bristol keep it simple to move second after overpowering Northampton

Bristol moved to second in the table after eventually overwhelming under-strength, out-of-form opponents in the final 18 minutes to record their biggest home win in the Premiership. Victory came at a cost ahead of the trip to Wasps and the European Challenge Cup home quarter-final against the Dragons with the England prop Kyle Sinckler among three forwards who left the field injured.

Bristol scored three tries in nine minutes after conceding an early penalty and scored the same number in six minutes in the final quarter. But in between they spent long periods under siege and took 44 minutes to secure the bonus point they needed with the battle to secure the three slots to join Exeter in the play-offs looking as if it will go down to the final round.

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Some of Bristol’s interplay was bewitching, with the Fiji centre Semi Radradra again influential, but it was only when Northampton were reduced to 14 men after they lost their two loosehead props, Nick Auterac withdrawing with a groin strain after Danny Hobbs Awoyemi snapped an Achilles tendon, and as the scrums became uncontested they had to sacrifice a player, Lewis Ludlam, that Bristol finished off their opponents.

The score at that point was 21-10. Northampton had dominated the opening 15 minutes of the second half having trailed by 18 at the interval and a try by their replacement wing Jason Gillespie six minutes after he had come on to make his Premiership debut was meagre reward for their dominance.

Bristol had retreated from setting the pace that had yielded three early tries through Harry Thacker, Alapati Leiua and Andy Uren and were fortunate not to lose a player to the sin-bin after giving away six penalties in quick succession near their line.

They were going nowhere until Ludlam, who with Jamie Gibson had hustled Bristol at the breakdown, departed. Northampton’s collapse was almost instant: Will Capon should have secured the bonus-point try but lost control of the ball over the line and a hint of desperation about the home side became detectable.

When they worked out how to exploit their numerical advantage, Chris Vui scored before Ben Earl broke from a ruck and Luke Morahan caught Callum Sheedy’s cross-kick before having a second try ruled out after a review found that he had been tackled into touch by Henry Taylor.

It was Northampton’s ninth defeat in 11 Premiership matches, relegation form. A season that started with promise is ending with the Saints limping into European Champions Cup qualification. And they are down to one fit loosehead prop. But there was no doubting their spirit after they went 21-3 down in the opening 18 minutes.

Bristol have assembled one of the strongest squads in the Premiership, but they are on the way up rather than at the top. Dealing with expectation remains an issue: they drew here with London Irish last December after enjoying a man advantage for 42 minutes, playing in the wrong areas and at times overindulging.

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They lost their way here after Thacker dummied rather than pass to the unmarked Radradra for the bonus‑point try and was tackled by Tommy Freeman, but success did not come to Saracens and Exeter in a rush.

“Our discipline and error rate have to improve if we want to win titles,” said the Bristol director of rugby, Pat Lam, who revealed that Sinckler left the field with cramp after attempting a sidestep.

“It was frustrating to be 21-3 up and then lose control of the game. The race for the top four will go to the wire, but as our goal was to make the top six it has been a huge effort from everyone.”