Bristol Bears 85 Newcastle Falcons 14

It may seem moronic to suggest that Bristol Bears have slipped under the radar into the Premiership top four, especially on the back of an exhibition of attack decorated by audacious offloads and tremendous athleticism. Then again, it has been tough to find one’s bearings this season.

Perhaps those startled by the Bears’ rise into the play-off spots, secured with Harlequins’ decidedly closer loss to Sale, have not been concentrating hard enough. This, a merciless thrashing of the hapless Newcastle Falcons, rock bottom of the league and without a league win since last March, represented Bears’ fifth Premiership victory in succession.

The disjointed nature of the campaign means the run stretches back to Jan. 5. Nevertheless, Pat Lam’s side have maintained impetus either side of the Six Nations hiatus and showed swagger here in a club record Premiership win. Remarkably, they kicked the ball only four times in open play and plundered 12 tries, handing two more to Falcons through interceptions. Steve Borthwick was in attendance and would have been thoroughly entertained. Benhard Janse van Rensburg, who qualifies for England in 2026, earned the official man of the match gong and Gabriel Oghre was among many excellent performers.

“Ruthless” was the assessment of Lam, who has put an emphasis on “skills, team-work and a “fearless mind-set”. He asked players not to expend energy in the warm-up, because Bristol planned to run Falcons ragged. “Kicking metres have dominated rugby headlines since the World Cup,” Lam said. “What’s pleasing is that in the Champions Cup [semi-finals], there are four really good attacking sides. Everyone knows me; I love attack.”

Steve Diamond, the Newcastle boss, sounded phlegmatic. He admitted his charges “didn’t get off the bus at all” on an occasion which would need to be “a line in the sand” as he reboots Newcastle. “There are some good players staying but some are not good enough for the Premiership,” Diamond said. “That’s been articulated to them, and another couple after today.

Intrepid and ambitious, Bristol gathered the kick-off and cycled through phases inside their own 22. It was messy at times, but they kept the courage of their convictions, declining to clear through the boot. Via Harry Randall’s dummy box-kick, Bears swept the ball to their left flank. When the ball was whisked back to the right, Randall scampered through and found Siva Naulago.

Newcastle restarted and were promptly sliced apart again, James Williams feeding Gabriel Ibitoye. Falcons crept offside and the penalty was nudged to the corner, with James Dun barging over. At their deadliest, Bristol make restarts into a dangerous platform and they released Ibitoye from the third of the game. Adam Radwan forced his opposite man into touch, yet Max Malins soon glided through, picking an incisive angle off Ellis Genge.

Although Radwan tracked a looping pass from Kyle Sinckler and plucked an interception to pull back seven points, Randall was zipping around Ashton Gate. His tapped penalty allowed Magnus Bradbury to notch the quickest Premiership bonus point in almost 20 years, since Harlequins overwhelmed Saracens in 2004. Just 15 minutes had elapsed.

Borthwick could not have failed to be impressed by Randall’s verve, regardless of the meek defence. Naulago, occasionally highlighted as a potential England international by Eddie Jones, was also conspicuous. The 32-year-old, a mortarman in the British Army, shot in from his wing to force two turnovers. One hit rocked Tom Penny, who withdrew on the half-hour mark.

Williams, the resourceful centre, impressed as well. He slipped clear for number five. A bulldoze from Genge, from Sinckler’s flick, brought the sixth and Bristol had seven as the first period ended the way it had begun, with a break-out directly from a Newcastle restart. Naulago caused havoc on the right touchline before Janse van Rensburg escaped on the left. MacGinty’s touchline conversion made it 47-7 at half-time.

In the 48th minute, Lam brought on Virimi Vakatawa. Randall’s second, created by Ibitoye, duly arrived. Kieran Marmion, on for Randall, linked with Will Capon at the tail of a maul for the ninth. Brett Connon dispossessed Malins to pick up Newcastle’s second interception try but Jake Heenan, following a fortunate ricochet, and Janse van Rensburg, after some more Ibitoye magic, piled on the pain. Vakatawa bagged a late brace, first capitalising on a 70-metre gallop from Joe Owen and then latching onto Janse van Rensburg’s offload.

“I always say the table means nothing until the last round is finished,” Lam added. In a season that has resembled an accordion, with the table compressing every other week, Bristol are growing stronger as the music comes to a halt. They will not fear a trip to Leicester, where they can consolidate further.

Scoring sequence

5-0 Naulago try, 7-0 MacGinty conversion, 12-0 Dun try, 14-0 MacGinty conversion, 19-0 Malins try, 21-0 MacGinty conversion, 21-5 Radwan try, 21-7 B Connon conversion, 26-7 Bradbury try, 31-7 Williams try, 33-7 MacGinty conversion, 38-7 Genge try, 40-7 MacGinty conversion, 45-7 Janse van Rensburg try, 47-7 MacGinty conversion, 52-7 Randall try, 54-7 Williams conversion, 59-7 Marmion try, 61-7 Williams conversion, 61-12 Connon try, 61-14 Connon conversion, 66-14 Heenan try, 71-14 Janse van Rensburg try, 73-14 Williams conversion, 78-14 Vakatawa try, 80-14 Janse van Rensburg conversion, 85-14 Vakatawa try

Match details

Bristol Bears  M Malins; S Naulago (R Lane, 59), B Janse van Rensburg, J Williams, G Ibitoye; AJ MacGinty (V Vakatawa, 48), H Randall (K Marmion, 50); E Genge (J Woolmore, 48), G Oghre (W Capon, 48), K Sinckler (M Lahiff, 48), J Dun, J Caulfield, S Luatua (J Owen, 53), F Harding (J Heenan, 60), M Bradbury.

Newcastle Falcons  B Redshaw; A Radwan, O Spencer, T Penny (R Jennings, 31), I Stephens (M Moroni, 48); B Connon, S Stuart (M Pepper, 53); A Brocklebank (M Dormer, 62), J Blamire (B Byrne, 53), R Palframan (E Bello, 53), T Cardall (J Kelly, 62), S de Chaves, P van der Walt, C Chick (F Lockwood, 53).

Referee  Luke Pearce. Attendance  16,648.