Premiership Rugby Cup: Gloucester score six tries to reach semis with Worcester and Leicester
- Published
Freddie Thomas scored his first try for Gloucester after spotting a gap in the Bristol defence
Gloucester scored six tries as they raced to a bonus-point 43-15 win over Bristol to progress to the semi-finals of the Premiership Rugby Cup.
Newcastle's 34-26 defeat at Northampton Saints meant that Leicester Tigers top Pool B, while London Irish were already confirmed winners of Pool C.
Worcester beat Bath 13-7 to go through to the final four as the best runner-up team in the three groups.
They will be away to Gloucester in the semis, with the Exiles hosting Tigers.
The two matches will take place at Kingsholm and Brentford on Tuesday and Wednesday 26-27 April.
Bristol and Gloucester went into their match with both mathematically able to top the group.
Both fielded young sides and it was Bristol debutant Jac Lloyd - brother of fly-half Ioan - who kicked the first points to put the Bears ahead.
But Gloucester ran clear through three first-half tries from Jacob Morris, following an excellent George Barton cross-field kick, and Jack Bartlett and Henry Walker, who scored from driving mauls.
Bryan Byrne closed the gap for Bristol to 11, but two tries in two minutes - from Freddie Thomas and then an intercept from Alex Morgan - all but wrapped up the Cherry and Whites' win.
Mitch Eadie pulled another back for Bristol before Walker scored his second of the night and Gloucester's sixth.
Jake Garside scores Northampton's third try of the night against Newcastle
Teenage scrum-half Jake Garside marked his Northampton Saints debut with a try as they beat Newcastle Falcons in a cross-pool game at Cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens.
Luke Frost and Robbie Smith exchanged tries after Newcastle's Iwan Stephens had been denied a 60-metre opener by a brilliant Josh Gillespie tackle.
JJ Tonks was driven over from a ruck as 2019 winners Saints added to Frost's score and 19-year-old Garside touched down from a tap penalty while Falcons were down to 14-men after Smith was yellow carded.
Falcons needed a bonus-point victory to pip Leicester, who beat London Irish on Tuesday, in Pool B, and earned an 'extra' by adding tries from Smith, captain Pete Lucock and Marcus Tiffen after the break.
Northampton were disrupted by a series of changes, with Garside replaced by Coventry loanee Pete White after 58 minutes, but Reece Marshall and Tom Litchfield went in to keep them out in front as they made it four successive wins in league and cup.
Tom Howe picked up a kick-through from Seb Atkinson to score Worcester's only try against Bath
Worcester were forced to bring in four players on loan from Championship side Hartpury for the fixture with Bath, after cases of Covid-19, illness and injuries within the team led to their most recent Premiership game with Gloucester being called off.
After a quiet opening 20 minutes in the rain at the Recreation Ground, hooker John Stewart scored for Bath on his first-team debut with a try when a maul was driven over the line.
Worcester levelled things immediately after the second-half restart through Tom Howe and two Billy Searle penalties followed that proved the difference, giving Warriors the victory.
- Published29 March 2022
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