Eight-try Bristol deny Newcastle comeback

Kalaveti Ravouvou scored two of Bristol's seven tries against Newcastle

Gallagher Premiership

Bristol (21) 55

Tries: Oghre, Heward 2, Ravouvou 2, Mata, Marmion, Bailey Cons: Byrne 4, Janse van Rensburg Pens: Byrne

Newcastle (14) 35

Tries: Chick, Blamire, Clark, Stevenson 2 Cons: Connon 5

Bristol held off a resilient Newcastle comeback to record a 55-33 victory at Ashton Gate and consolidate second place in the Premiership.

The Bears raced to a rapid 21-0 lead before tries from Callum Chick and Jamie Blamire brought the Falcons into contention.

A second Kalaveti Ravouvou score for Bristol looked to have the hosts clear again but Max Clark and Ben Stevenson closed the gap to only three points.

But when Newcastle had a man sent to the bin, Bristol were ruthlessly clinical as Viliame Mata, Kieron Marmion and Diego Bailey scored before Heward added an eighth with the clock in red.

The win sees Bristol remain six points behind league leaders Bath while Newcastle stay bottom but pick up their first bonus point of the season - and first point since they beat Saracens on 29 November.

Newcastle remain without a win in eight matches in all competitions but there was much for boss Steve Diamond to be pleased with, as he passed the one-year anniversary of his tenure in the north east.

Last April the Falcons fell to a chastening 85-14 hammering at Ashton Gate and there were initial rumblings of a similar outcome.

Bristol prop Oghre crashed over after four minutes from a driving maul before Heward snaffled up a loose Falcons pass, shrugged off a tackle and chased his own kick over.

Winger Max Pepper - into the starting line up in place of Adam Radwan, who signed for Leicester this week – then appeared to have Newcastle's first try before a TMO check ruled his foot had grazed the touchline.

Bristol made Newcastle pay straight away, as Heward and Ravouvou cantered down the pitch in a one-two and the Fijian dived over.

The Falcons did not roll over though and Chick finally put them on the scoreboard from close range, capping off sustained pressure on the Bears' tryline, before Blamire drove over from a maul to close the gap to seven points.

Stevenson's excellent tackle then denied Viliame Mata as he charged towards the line right on half-time, and Pepper similarly halted Joe Jenkins the other side of the break to prevent another probable try.

The Bears did eventually have their bonus point, as Rich Lane skipped clear before launching a long ball to Ravouvou.

But again Newcastle came back, as Clark charged down a kick and dived to touch it down and make it 28-21.

Harry Byrne added a penalty for the hosts before Newcastle clinched a bonus point with their best try of the game, featuring a no-look pass from Clark and Alex Hearle's run which led to Stevenson scoring.

The game turned on its head though when Hearle was shown yellow for a high tackle and with a man down, Bristol pounced with four tries in the final 10 minutes.

Mata capped a slick passage through the Bears backs, Marmion sidestepped Stevenson, Bailey and Heward ran over with Stevenson's second adding a consolation for Newcastle.

Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam told BBC Radio Bristol:

"The most important thing is we knew we needed the five points and we got that, which is pleasing

"There's a bit of work for us to do but now we've got a good seven, eight weeks now to – like last year – have our mini-pre-season, tidy up lots of our game.

"All-in-all compared to last year we're in a good place.

"Fair play to Newcastle, they would have been hurting from what we did last year, they were concerned it could have gone that way when we were 21-0 but they fought back and it was pleasing for them and good to see them do it."

Falcons consultant director of rugby Steve Diamond told BBC Radio Newcastle:

"The first 15 minutes they were 21-0 up and then we effectively got off the bus and it was a close game up until the last 15 minutes when we got a yellow card.

"The pleasing thing was we scored five tries, we've not done that at all this year so that was good and we were combative and in the scrap for a large part of the game. We just couldn't control certain elements.

"The same team will go out next week in the Prem Cup, we'll take that seriously, then we've got Sale at home and Exeter away in late March.

"We'll have three or four players back in and we may have done a bit of recruiting by then to come in for this season so we'll be a hard side to beat."

Bristol: Lane; Heward, Jenkins, Janse van Rensburg, Kavouvou; Byrne, Marmion; Thomas, Oghre, Lahiff; Dun, Owen, S. Grondona, Harding, Mata.

Replacements: Capon, Woolmore, Kloska, Luatua, Heenan, Wolstenholme, Elizalde, Bailey.

Newcastle: Obatoyinbo; Pepper, Hearle, Clark, Stevenson; Connon, Stuart; Brocklebank, Blamire, McCalllum; De Chaves, McDonald Seran, Van der Walt, Lockwood, Chick.

Replacements: Fletcher, Rewcastle, De Bruin, Hawkins, Leatherbarrow, Davis, Wilkinson, Spencer.

Sin bin: Hearle (66 mins)

Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys