Premiership: Bristol Bears 37-21 Newcastle Falcons - hosts score four tries in victory

Alapati Leiua scored in both league matches against Newcastle this season

Bristol held off a Newcastle fightback to earn back-to-back Premiership wins for only the second time this season.

Andy Uren, Siva Naulago, Luke Morahan and Alapati Leiua won Bristol a bonus point after half an hour.

Cameron Nordli-Kelemeti scored for Newcastle, with the referee awarding the visitors a penalty try on half-time.

Nathan Earle reduced the Falcons' deficit to 10 points, but two Tom Whiteley penalties sealed the win.

Bristol went into the game on a three-match unbeaten run and with a win against Sale in their last league fixture on 4 January before back-to-back Heineken Champions Cup victories.

It took them only four minutes to take the lead with their first attack, as centre Piers O'Conor found a hole in the Falcons defence, from which Uren scored.

It set the tone for the half, with Naulago - making his first league start of the season - the next to go over in the corner, before Morahan added a third try after 20 minutes, using his pace on the outside.

The only negative was injuries to Uren and Morahan, who both went off after scoring, forcing an already depleted Bristol back line to reshuffle.

Against the run of play, Nordli-Kelemeti got Newcastle on the scoreboard, side-stepping past two players and chasing down his own kick. But Bristol pushed ahead further, as Whiteley combined with Leiua in space on the blindside.

As the clock went red, the momentum tilted when Newcastle were awarded a penalty try and Bristol saw Dave Attwood and captain Joe Joyce sent to the sin-bin for repeated team infringements.

Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam rang the changes at half-time, bringing on a new-look front three to compensate for the missing players. Yet Falcons' Mike Brown was then also shown yellow, allowing Whiteley to kick a penalty despite Bristol being two players down.

Newcastle winger Adam Radwan broke into space on the right, off-loading to Earle to bring the score to 31-21. However, Newcastle gave away another penalty which Whiteley kicked.

And even when Steven Luatua became the third Bristol player to be sin-binned, the visitors could not capitalise.

Whiteley's third penalty wrapped up the win, allowing Bristol to leap-frog Newcastle, who continue to wait for a first outright Premiership victory since 6 November, in the table.

Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam told BBC Radio Bristol:

"There's obviously some very, very good tries scored and the bonus point is great. There was some excellent rugby at times which was pleasing.

"They're a gnarly side, niggly side, keep coming in but we didn't help ourselves with some of our discipline. Some loose control on the ball at times, which just stopped the flow of the game.

"All in all, it's our fourth bonus-point win in a row and we just keep moving on.

"We're getting the outcomes because we're working hard in training, working on the little things. That's why we're probably disappointed, we could have gone and kicked on a bit more. It's just little things - loose line-outs, deliveries - those sort of things if we improve that we'll be stronger."

Newcastle director of rugby Dean Richards:

"We didn't expect to go 28-7 down so early on as we missed tackles for three of their four tries and that wasn't good enough.

"We left four or five really good opportunities to score out there but they are a good side and knew how to take theirs.

"Had we taken our chances, it might have been a completely different picture but the boys did well to get right back into a see-saw game."

Bristol Bears: Morahan; Naulago, Radradra, O'Conor, Purdy, Whiteley, Uren; Woolmore, Byrne, Lahiff, Attwood, Joyce (c), Vui, D. Thomas, Harding.

Replacements: Thacker, Y. Thomas, Afoa, Jeffries, Luatua, Eden, Frisch, Leiua.

Sin bin: Dave Attwood (40), Joe Joyce (40), Steven Luatua (67)

Newcastle: Brown, Radwan, Orlando, Lucock, Earle, Haydon-Wood, Stuart; Brocklebank, McGuigan, Tampin, Peterson, Robinson, Graham, Welch (c), Chick.

Replacements: Smith, Cade, Davison, Basham, Collett, Nordli-Kelemeti, Connon, Penny.

Sin bin: Brown (43)

Referee: Matthew Carley (RFU).

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