Premiership: Bristol Bears 32-15 Sale Sharks: Luke Morahan double helps Bristol beat Sale

Luke Morahan started at full-back for Bristol and scored two first-half tries

Two Luke Morahan tries helped Bristol secure their first Premiership victory in five matches as they sealed a bonus-point win over Sale.

Ewan Ashman scored quickly for Sale but Will Capon hit back for the Bears after Tom Curry was sent to the sin-bin.

A Morahan double extended their lead, as Rob du Preez pegged Bristol back.

Sale twice crossed the tryline after the break but the efforts were ruled out, before Andy Uren scored Bristol's fourth with the last play of the match.

Bristol came into the match on the back of a run of four straight league defeats that left them 11th in the table. Sale, meanwhile, had not won on the road since May 2021 when they beat Bath last season.

Sale took just three minutes to get over the tryline, after a neat passage of play started when Bristol-bound fly-half AJ MacGinty broke through their defensive line with a dummy. Wing Marland Yarde then fed Ashman to cross in the corner.

Bristol hit back quickly, helped by Curry being sent to the sin-bin by referee Wayne Barnes for the team's fourth offence in a passage of play defending their line.

The hosts, already in sight of the tryline, used their maul from the line-out to power over through Capon.

With an extra man, Bristol were enjoying the better of possession and territory but only managed to break the Sale line again with seconds left before Curry's return.

Morahan darted through a gap from a long pass out wide, handed off Rob du Preez and sped to the line for his first try of the season.

The tries continued to be traded as Sale reduced the deficit to two points through Rob du Preez. After Curry won a turnover in midfield, a clever Luke James pass from the back of his hand enabled the South African to dive over in the corner.

Four minutes later Morahan swung the momentum Bristol's way again, as he ran onto an inside pass from Semi Radradra and touched down to make it 19-12.

MacGinty kicked a penalty to bring Sale within four at the break but the offences gradually built up from the visitors after the restart and two Callum Sheedy penalties put Bristol 10 points ahead.

Luke James seemed to have broken the second-half deadlock on 60 minutes with a crucial score for Sale out of nothing, picking up a kick through from Ben Curry, but referee Barnes ruled it out for a knock-on in the build-up after consulting with the TMO.

Ten minutes later Sale broke again as MacGinty capitalised on a Bristol mistake, but despite Sam James crossing the tryline it was again ruled out for a knock-on in the build-up by Barnes, who was officiating his 250th Premiership match.

Bristol chased the bonus point and were given their reward at the death as wing Ioan Lloyd sucked in defenders down the right and produced a fine offload before Sheedy fed replacement Uren to score.

Bristol Bears head coach Pat Lam told BBC Radio Bristol:

"We focus on our performance because we knew that everyone was telling us we've got to win, and we know we've got to win. But I said that I'm not interested in that, our interest is in our performance, a true Bears performance.

"You highlighted the last two weeks against Leicester and Exeter, we did a lot of good things but little things were costing us again. That's been the real focus.

"We talked about the group, we were backed in a corner - we can't just keep losing games and saying we'll come back. I asked the boys at the start of the week, 'what does a bear do when it's backed in a corner?' and the boys said stand up and stand up and fight.

"Then we talked about what does that look like through the training week, what does that look like on the field and they delivered it. Obviously we can be better than what was there but it's a start and now we build on that."

Sale Sharks boss Alex Sanderson:

"Any loss is a concern. I don't see home and away as being any point of difference.

"It might influence the referee, and I think it might have tonight, maybe.

"He's one of the world's best, but I couldn't fathom some of those decisions around the scrum. I would have to have another look because there are a lot of moving parts to it.

"I will have a look at it and go through the proper channels."

Bristol: Morahan; Lloyd, Radradra, Bedlow, Purdy; Sheedy, Randall; Lahiff, Capon, Sinckler, Joyce (capt), Hawkins, Vui, D Thomas, Harding.

Replacements: Kerr, Woolmore, Afoa, Holmes, Heenan, Uren, O'Conor, Bates.

Sale: L James; McGuigan, R Du Preez, S James, Yarde; MacGinty, Cliff; Rodd, Ashman, Schonert, JL Du Preez, De Jager, Ross (capt), T Curry, D Du Preez.

Sin-bin: T Curry (8)

Replacements: Taylor, McIntyre, Oosthuizen, Postlethwaite, B Curry, Warr, Doherty, Hammersley.

Referee: Wayne Barnes (RFU).

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