Heineken Champions Cup: Bristol Bears 28-17 Stade Francais
- Published
Bristol scrum-half Harry Randall impressed three days before Eddie Jones names his England squad for the Six Nations
Heineken Champions Cup |
|---|
Bristol: (14) 28 |
Tries: Purdy, O'Conor 2, Randall; Cons: Sheedy 4 |
Stade Francais: (7) 17 |
Tries: Barre, Burban; Pen: Sanchez; Cons: Sanchez 2 |
Bristol are through to the last 16 of the Champions Cup after a confident bonus-point win against Stade Francais.
Scrum-half Harry Randall put his case to England selectors as his break set up a try for Henry Purdy.
Bristol continued to dominate and Piers O'Conor crossed, but Leo Barre scored a shock try on half-time.
The Bears upped their tempo and were rewarded with more tries as Randall got on the scoresheet and O'Conor claimed a second after Luke Morahan's break.
Randall stars as Bristol cruise to victory
The Bears were playing their first Champions Cup game of the season after two Covid-19 cancellations, having received points for both the games that did not go ahead.
Their European campaign got off to a perfect start when scrum-half Randall made his break, showing the speed and sharp wits he can offer Eddie Jones, who names his Six Nations squad on Tuesday.
Following the resulting Purdy try, O'Conor went over after a clever move from the maul as the centre stepped inside and dived over the line.
Stade Francais' Barre gathered a chip to score and Nicolas Sanchez's conversion cut Bristol's lead in half just before the break.
Sanzhez started the second half with another penalty but 24-year-old Randall - given licence to play with speed by director of rugby Pat Lam - took a free-kick quickly and danced his way around three defenders to score.
As Stade Francais began to tire, Bristol full-back Morahan found a gap to cover most of the pitch before offloading to O'Conor for the bonus-point try.
The visitors had one more score left in them and Antoine Burban dived over from close range but Stade Francais are 11th in Pool B - outside the top eight qualification spots.
Line-ups
Bristol: Morahan; Lloyd, Radradra, O'Conor, Purdy; Sheedy, Randall; Lahiff, Capon, Sinckler, Hawkins, Joyce (capt), Vui, D Thomas, Harding.
Replacements: Kerr, Woolmore, Afoa, Holmes, Luatua, Uren, Frisch, Bates.
Stade Francais: Hamdaoui; Champ, Laumape, Barre, Veainu; Sanchez, Coville; Bethune, Da Silva, Roelofse, Azagoh, Van der Mescht, Francoz, Briatte, Gray (capt)
Replacements: Latu, M. Alo-Emile, Kakovin, Burban, Di Giovanni, Percillier, Arrate, Kremer.
Match officials
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Eoghan Cross and Oisin Quinn (Ireland)
TMO: Joy Neville (Ireland)