Match Centre: Bristol Bears 31-29 Bath Rugby

Bristol Bears 31-29 Bath Rugby, Ashton Gate

Ellis Genge scored a double as Bristol Bears overcame a stubborn 14-men Bath Rugby with a 31-29 win in the Gallagher Premiership opener at Ashton Gate on Saturday.

Bath fly half Piers Francis had a last minute drop goal drifted wide as Bath started their campaign under Johann van Graan with a narrow defeat.

It took Genge just two minutes to get the opening try on his first game back to his hometown club from Leicester and Callum Sheedy kicked the conversion before Piers Francis slotted a penalty goal in the 9th minute to make it 7-3.

Bath, who lost Chris Cloete with an ankle injury in the 7th minute also lost Beno Obano to injury at the end of the first quarter. Skipper Ben Spencer sniped in after Josh Mcnally sent an inside pass and Francis, who slotted the conversion also followed it with a penalty goal 7-13.

The second try for Bristol came in the 27th minute as Magnus Bradbury went in the corner to bring the gap down to one point but Bath lost Will Butt to sin-bin in the 33rd minute for holding up and Pat Lam's side immediately responded with Luke Morahan dotting down after Charles Piutau laid the foundation.

Bath's problems compounded as they saw Niall Annett, who made his club debut last just for a minute after he was sent-off and and Bristol fly-half Callum Sheedy sin-binned just before the break Francis slotted his third penalty goal to ensure the teams completed the opening half with a 17-16.

Bath were the quickest to get off the block in the second half despite a player short as Tom Dunn collected his own throw to score although with no TMO, it couldn’t be confirmed whether the ball had touched the whitewash. Francis slotted the conversion to make it 17-23.

Attwood’s monumental shift continued as he wrapped a Bristol maul to earn a turnover and when he was held up on the line, Francis followed up with a penalty to make it 17-26.

Just as the game entered the final seven minutes, Genge powered in from 15 metres after a quick tap penalty and MacGinty kicked the conversion to bring the gap down to two points before Francis kicked a fifth penalty to put Bath in front once more.

As Bath thought they had the game, replacement hooker Capon flopped over and MacGinty improved it to make it 31-29 and the visitors still had a chance to steal the game but Francis' attempt at a drop goal drifted wide as Bristol secured a thrilling win.

Team line up:

Bristol Bears: Piutau; Morahan, O'Conor, Bedlow, Lane; Sheedy, Randall; Genge, Byrne, Sinckler, Joyce, Vui, Jeffries, Heenan, Bradbury.

Reserves: Capon, Woolmore, Lahiff, Holmes, Lewis, Uren, MacGinty, Bates.

Bath: De Glanville; Hamer-Webb, Butt, Redpath, Gallagher; Francis, B Spencer; Obano, Dunn, A Coetzee, Attwood, McNally, Bayliss, Cloete, J Coetzee.

Reserves: Annett, Boyce, Jonker, W Spencer, Richards, Schreuder, Bailey, De Carpentier.