Wade hat-trick helps Gloucester beat Bristol in thriller

Christian Wade moved his tally up to 85 Premiership tries

Gallagher Premiership

Bristol (15) 41

Tries: Ibitoye, Naulago, Randall, Malins (2), Lane Cons: MacGinty (4) Pens: MacGinty

Gloucester (28) 44

Tries: Wade (3), Thomas, Anscombe Cons: Barton (5) Pens: Barton (3)

George Barton kicked a decisive penalty two minutes from time as Gloucester edged Bristol in a Premiership thriller at Ashton Gate.

Christian Wade scored a hat-trick to help build an 18-point lead for the Cherry and Whites with 17 minutes to play, with further tries from Freddie Thomas and Gareth Anscome.

Bristol had scored through Gabriel Ibitoye, after just two minutes, Siva Naulago and Harry Randall, then rallied from 41-23 down with two quick tries from Max Malins.

When Rich Lane scored in the left corner, the game was, remarkably, level but from the restart Bristol were penalised for going off their feet at a ruck and Barton kicked the winning points.

It brought reward for some enterprising rugby from Gloucester, who bounced back from an opening-round defeat to Saracens, and Wade's first tries back in the Premiership after six years away.

He first took Max Lewellyn's offload, after a clever step inside, to run in down the left wing, before, in the second half, intercepting a pass and running 80 yards to score.

And when his kick down the right touchline bounced outrageously away from two defenders, he gathered to stroll in for his hat-trick and give Gloucester what looked like a winning lead.

Among his hat-trick was the try of the night from Thomas who, from a move that began deep in Gloucester's half, picked a superb line to break the defence near halfway and, three passes later, he was over.

But strange things can happen at Ashton Gate and with the game almost out of reach, Bristol found their rhythm to twice work Malins over from short range.

Wade then made contact with Bernard Janse van Rensburg's head in a tackle and was sin-binned. Bristol took advantage from a scrum to send Lane in down the wing Wade should have been defending.

All the momentum was with the home side but having claimed the restart, overeagerness at the next ruck gave Barton his chance to win it.

It sent Bristol to defeat in their opening home game of the season having won at Newcastle last weekend.

Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam told BBC Radio Bristol:

"We got off to a good start but then we weren't patient enough and gave the ball up.

"Well done to Gloucester, they said they were going to play and they cut us open a few times.

"Yes we fought back but we made life difficult for ourselves."

Gloucester head coach George Skivington told BBC Radio Gloucestershire:

"I'm really proud of the lads, they were brave tonight and did everything we asked of them.

"They worked really hard in defence, Bristol are a really, really good attacking team and we got caught out very early but we got back on track.

"We've talked about being brave if we’re going to play this way and if something goes wrong, we've got to park it, and we did that time and again."

Bristol: Malins; Naulago, Janse van Rensburg, Williams, Ibitoye; MacGinty, Randall; Genge, Oghre, Kloska; Dun, Batley; Luatua, Heenan, Harding

Replacements: Capon, Woolmore, Lahiff, Caulfield, Grondona, Marmion, Jenkins, Lane

Gloucester: Barton; Wade, Harris, Atkinson, Llewellyn; Anscombe, Williams; Vivas, Singleton, Gotovtsev; Thomas, Alemanno; Clement, Taylor, Mercer

Replacements: Blake, Ford-Robinson, Fasogbon, Clarke, Ackermann, Tuisue, Englefield, Atkinson

Yellow card: Wade

Referee: Tom Foley