Premiership: Northampton 27-33 Bristol - Bears hold off Saints to keep up unbeaten start

Harry Thacker's try ensured Bristol came away from Franklin's Gardens with all five points on offer

Bristol Bears made it two wins from two Premiership games with a 33-27 win over Northampton at Franklin's Gardens.

Saints were on top for most of the first half thanks to a double from Tom Seabrook and a try from Tom Pearson.

Yet two tries from Magnus Bradbury, one at each end of the opening 40 minutes, helped claw Bristol back within one point.

Tommy Freeman scored a fourth for Saints, but tries from Max Lahiff and Harry Thacker gave Bristol all five points.

Winger Seabrook's inclusion was the only change to the starting XV for Saints following their defeat by Sale last weekend and he was on the scoreboard within two minutes as the ball was stretched out wide from a lineout and he went over in the corner.

Bradbury responded for Bristol after a turn and offload from Virimi Vakatawa, but Saints instantly retaliated as Seabrook again darted down the wing and pirouetted around the defence to score a second.

With AJ MacGinty out with a hamstring injury, Callum Sheedy started at fly-half and kicked a penalty to narrow the gap.

But when Gabriel Ibitoye was sent to the sin-bin for a deliberate knock-on, Bristol were punished. No less than 60 seconds later, Pearson used the man advantage to easily run over and stretch Saints' lead to 11 points.

Bristol gradually brought back the deficit. Sheedy kicked another three and with the clock in red for half-time they won another penalty and kicked to the corner from which Bradbury powered over.

Northampton came out from the break flying as Freeman gathered Fin Smith's kick from the restart to score their fourth try.

Yet while there was nothing between the two sides in terms of possession and territory Bristol narrowly had the edge. Lahiff swung the lead their way for the first time after 50 minutes and Sheedy added another three from a penalty kick.

Thacker secured the bonus point for the second week running after the Bears' win over Leicester, from close range after another five-metre line-out after Sam Graham was sent to the bin.

Fin Smith's late penalty set up a nervous finale and Saints' attack could not add the extra try they needed to take the win as they fell to a second successive loss.

Northampton director of rugby Phil Dowson told BBC Radio Northamptonshire:

"Very disappointing. I thought for the first 38 minutes of the game we looked very good, looked strong, and it was 19-11 just before half-time [and we] conceded a score which changed the whole complexion of that first half, gave them a lot of energy.

"The second half we never really got into our stride, particularly gave a lot of penalties away, the yellow card clearly didn't help either and Bristol came back into the game.

"I don't think there's any lack of effort, we acknowledge that we tried to push on in the second half, but we just couldn't generate that momentum back and it took us too long.

"That last five minutes we had an opportunity but we're leaving it late as last week."

Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam told BBC Radio Bristol:

"Very proud of the guys, they came out firing and they were coming at us and we held them out. There was a couple of tough calls and they scored a try.

"But we came back at them and they went out to 19 points. What I'm loving about the guys is they know we've got a plan and they stuck to the plan. We worked our way through and we got back and scored just before half-time and closed it up.

"The kick was unfortunate and they got a try but the message I'm getting to the boys is stay calm, just stick to the plan, we worked our way [back], got ahead and got five points.

"It's been a really good day of rugby, I'm really pleased that we've got back-to-back wins."

Northampton: Litchfield; Seabrook, Freeman, Hutchinson, Ramm, F Smith, James; Waller, Langdon, Davison, Moon, Coles, Scott-Young, Pearson, Graham (c).

Replacements: R Smith, Waller, Millar Mills, Lockett, Munga, McParland, Grayson, Garside.

Sin-bin: Graham (59).

Bristol: Lane; Heward, Vakatawa, Van Rensburg, Ibitoye; Sheedy, Randall; Woolmore, Thacker, Lahiff, Dun, Batley, Harding (c), D Thomas, Bradbury.

Replacements: Capon, Grahamslaw, Kloska, Caulfield, Heenan, Marmion, Williams, O'Conor.

Sin-bin: Ibitoye (22)

Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys

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