Six-try Bath dominate Bristol with 40-15 victory

Bath 40-15 Bristol, The Rec

Bath Rugby produced a commanding second-half display to defeat Bristol Bears 40–15 at the Rec, sealing a bonus-point win and reaffirming their title credentials.

Bristol struck first within seconds of kick-off when Kalaveti Ravouvou sliced through weak midfield defence to score under the posts, handing the visitors an early advantage.

Bath steadied themselves and responded in the 11th minute through Guy Pepper, who finished from close range after sustained pressure inside the Bristol 22.

The Bears regained control when hooker Gabriel Oghre powered over from a rolling maul in the 22nd minute, with Sam Worsley converting and later adding a penalty to stretch the lead.

But Bath’s midfield pairing took charge before half-time. First Ollie Lawrence crossed in the 32nd minute after a crisp offload from Finn Russell, who duly converted. Three minutes later, Cameron Redpath exploited disorganised defence to score, again improved by Russell, sending Bath into the break 19–15 ahead.

The second half was defined by Bristol’s discipline issues. Santiago Grondona was sin-binned in the 59th minute for a cynical infringement at the breakdown, leaving his side a man short.

Bath capitalised quickly, with Joe Cokanasiga finishing a sweeping move out wide in the 64th minute, Russell converting to build a healthy cushion of 26-15.

From there, Bath’s forwards imposed themselves. Deep into added time at 80+1 minutes, England flanker Sam Underhill smashed over from close quarters to underline the pack’s dominance.

Bristol’s frustrations then boiled over in the 86th minute when Francois van Wyk and Benjamin Grondona were both shown yellow cards after repeated infringements and off-the-ball scuffles.

Henry Arundell dotted down in the 91st minute, with Russell kicking his fourth successful conversion to complete a 40–15 victory for Bath.