European Challenge Cup: Bristol Bears 35-19 Zebre - Bears earn comfortable bonus-point win
- Published
Bristol centre Semi Radradra burst through a gap to score his side's third try in a straightforward victory over Zebre
European Challenge Cup |
|---|
Bristol: (28) 35 |
Tries: Batley, Porter, Radradra, Lloyd, Thomas Cons: MacGinty 5 |
Zebre: (7) 19 |
Tries: Penalty, Van Wyk, Du Toit Cons: Eden |
Bristol Bears eased to a bonus-point victory over Zebre to earn a second successive European Challenge Cup win.
The visitors gifted Joe Batley the opening score but hit back with a penalty try two minutes later, which saw Bristol's Ioan Lloyd yellow-carded.
The 14-man Bears then took control with Will Porter, Semi Radradra and Lloyd putting them 28-7 up at the break.
Yann Thomas added Bristol's fifth before Kobus van Wyk and Jacques du Toit crossed late on for Zebre.
The hosts took the lead after 14 minutes when the Italians made a catalogue of errors from a scrum, resulting in Batley intercepting a pass inside Zebre's in-goal area to dot down, with AJ MacGinty adding the extras.
But the lead was short-lived as the visitors levelled with a penalty try, which also saw Lloyd sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on.
The flurry of scoring continued as the hosts added two tries in three minutes, with Porter pouncing on another Zebre error and Radradra finding a gap in the defence to go under the posts and give the 14-man Bears a 21-7 advantage after 22 minutes.
Lloyd returned from the sin-bin to secure the bonus point five minutes before the break, with another MacGinty conversion stretching the lead to 28-7 at half-time.
It took 18 minutes for the first points of the second half to arrive but it was worth the wait as Radradra showcased his excellent offloading skills with a flicked pass behind his back to find the supporting Thomas, with the replacement prop running in from 25 metres to make it 35-7.
Zebre kept going and scored two tries in the final 15 minutes through South African pair Van Wyk and Du Toit, the latter's score coming after Batley received a yellow card, but the visitors could not find a fourth to grab an unlikely bonus point.
Bears defence coach Jordan Crane told BBC Radio Bristol:
"It was never a day for fantastic, attacking rugby but we did the right things [in the first half], played in the right areas of the field and squeezed their momentum.
"They came back with a mindset to attack, which was brave in these conditions, and they didn't go away from that and we didn't manage the game well enough in the second half to be able to create pressure on them.
"What we've done over the past few weeks is getting back to a winning mindset and making it a habit for us. We know what our targets are and we need to be doing better but we are just building our way through and will see where we are at the end of the season."
Bristol: Morahan, Bailey, Radradra, Lloyd, Ibitoye, MacGinty, Porter, Woolmore, Thacker, Tyack, Batley, Vui, Luatua, Heenan, Harding.
Replacements: Kerr, Thomas, Lahiff, Stooke, Thomas, Uren, Sheedy, Lane.
Zebre: Kriel, van Wyk, Cronje, Smith Jr, Gesi, Eden, Jelic, Pitinari, Manfredi, Neculai, Uys, Zambonin, Bianchi, Pelsea, Fox-Matamua.
Replacements: du Toit, Rizzoli, Nocera, Krumov, Kvesic, Casilio, Prisciantelli, Moscardi.
Referee: Adrien Marbot.