Bristol Beats Reigning Prem Champions Bath 21-19

Bristol dug deep to beat reigning Prem champions Bath 21-19 and keep alive their chances of gatecrashing the play-off places. After losing 94-33 at leaders Northampton two weeks ago, the Bears climbed off the canvas to put in a much more diligent performance to ease the pressure on boss Pat Lam and delight a packed Ashton Gate. Without injured playmaker Finn Russell, Bath were not at their fluent best and did not score a point in the second half as the hosts ground out a vital win in the penultimate game of the league season. Bristol head to Sale next weekend after closing the gap on fourth-placed Exeter to a point, while Bath missed the chance to all-but secure a top-two finish. After a scrappy, yet high-intensity opening, Bath finally put together 11 phases of pressure and Ollie Lawrence drove over from close range to open the scoring. Bristol were being starved of the ball and a sloppy turnover led to a second for the visitors, Ben Spencer feeding Guy Pepper to fly into the corner. Bristol reacted well with captain Fitz Harding finishing after a quick tap penalty but Bath still found time to win a penalty at a scrum which led to prolific prop Thomas du Toit burrowing in to make the score 19-7 at the break. The hosts needed something - and were handed a penalty try when England wing Henry Arundell was sent to the bin early in the second half for a deliberate knock-on which denied Louis Rees-Zammit a score in the corner. The rapid Rees-Zammit then almost scored a brilliant solo try to draw Bristol level but could not ground his own clever kick ahead. Bath, restored to 15, thought they had a bonus-point try through replacement Alfie Barbeary but it was chalked off for a knock-on. Ted Hill made a superb try-saving tackle to blunt a Bristol attack but Max Lahiff then drove over to put the home side ahead with 13 minutes remaining. Both sides pushed for another score and Bath full-back Santi Carreras attempted to snatch victory with a stoppage-time penalty from inside his own half, but it drifted wide and Bristol took the win.