We have only ourselves to blame, says Bears boss Lam
BRISTOL BEARS VS SALE SHARKS, CHAMPIONS CUP ROUND OF 16, SECOND LEG and John Evely report on Bristol’s Champions Cup defeat to Sale at Ashton Gate
BRISTOL Bears blew a golden opportunity to make more club history as they were defeated 35-29 by 14-man Sale Sharks in the second leg of the European Heineken Champions Cup round of 16 tie at Ashton Gate.
Despite playing for 44 minutes with 14 men or fewer after wing Aaron Reed was shown a red card for a high tackle on Bears wing Luke Morahan, the visitors advance to the quarter-finals 44-39 on aggregate, while Bristol are left looking for meaning and motivation from their remaining four league games.
The game was back and forth throughout the 80 minutes, as countless disciplinary errors and infinite momentum shifts made for a nail-biting game.
A Morahan brace, along with tries from Harry Thacker and captain Joe Joyce, were still not enough to overcome stubborn Sale Sharks, who refused to be defeated with tries from Lood de Jager, Akker van der Merwe, Tom Roebuck and Jono Ross.
Callum Sheedy opened the scoring with a penalty, as Faf de Klerk was sent to the bin for a cynical early tackle on Fitz Harding in the build-up to a ruled-out Jake Kerr try. The disadvantage did not hamper Sale however, as Rob du Preez slotted a penalty over before de Jager picked and drove over from short range to give Alex Sanderson’s men the lead.
Reed’s red card for a nasty high tackle on Morahan should have signalled a turning of the tide, but Sharks further extended their lead as the clock went red with van der Merwe finding a gap around the maul to go over and give his side a 13-point lead on aggregate.
With Bristol coming out the sheds with the message to drive home their one-man advantage, it astoundingly took Sale just 12 seconds to breach the defence again as Rob du Preez’s kick-off was fumbled, Manu Tuilagi recovered the ball before it was cycled wide for Roebuck to score in the corner.
Sale got themselves deeper into a disciplinary hole in the 48th minute as Nick Schonert was shown a yellow card for a high tackle on Joyce, which seemed to shift the momentum in Bristol’s favour, with Thacker scoring off a maul following the infraction.
Pat Lam’s men continued their stride forwards as Morahan received a beautiful looping pass from Harry Randall on the right to score.
Bears levelled the game and gained the lead on aggregate in the 65th minute when captain Joyce spun around Rohan Janse van
Rensburg to get a clear run in from short range. But that was the high point of the game for the troubled Bears as their indiscipline saw the opportunity to claim the club’s first Champions Cup semi-final slip through their fingers.
Almost instantly, another Rob du Preez penalty put Sale ahead, before he added another three points minutes later.
The visitors appeared to put the tie to bed when a probing crossfield bomb was gathered by Ross to score in the corner.
A final twist came in the closing minute as Morahan scored his second try, putting Bristol within just five points of the aggregate lead moments after Sale replacement Tommy Taylor had denied Bristol’s Andy Uren a try in the corner, forcing a knock on.
Hope was finally extinguished 90 seconds from time as JP du Preez
stole back possession from the restart as he ripped the ball in a tackle on Semi Radradra to allow his side to see off the remaining minute, and advance to the quarter-finals.
With any hopes of adding a trophy to the cabinet now null and void, Bristol have no other option but to try to recover some lost pride in the Gallagher Premiership, with a South West battle against Gloucester awaiting them on Friday at Ashton Gate.
Lam, Bristol’s director of rugby, said: “Well done to Sale and Alex fully deserved.
“In the first half, they did all the play, and we talked about it at halftime. We gave them a lead, and then gave them another lead, and we didn’t manage the last 12 minutes
of the game at all well. It’s probably like our season. We are fighting, but we are fighting to get the game back after some simple things not done well.
“For us to go to the next level, these are things we have got to sort, and we will.
“To get ahead (on aggregate) and not manage it well at the end, we have only got ourselves to blame.
“At 24-24 we felt we had the momentum, but we gave away some silly penalties. We got one try back, then we turned the ball over and they shut the game down.
“It pretty much sums up our season - a lot of good stuff, but some simple things that were costly.”
Sale counterpart Sanderson reflected on a “nerve-wracking” night.
He said: “I did guarantee a better performance than last week, and I think we had it from both sides.
“It was a pleasure to be part of, as nerve-wracking as it was.
“The bench had a real impact and we knew we had to maintain the dominance of the scrum and the maul, which we did.
“To lose an extra man against a side like Bristol with (Charles) Piutau and (Semi) Radradra, we were always going to chase shadows for a while so getting back to 14 men felt like a win.
“There was a lot of effort, a bit of tactics and mostly heart.
“We play at our best with our backs against the wall and the only space is to fight. We can go anywhere and win.”
On the red card, Sanderson added: “Arron is not a dirty player by any stretch. He has worked hard on his defence. He is properly gutted. I don’t think we will ever see that off him again.”
Bristol: Rich Lane (Charles Piutau, 41); Luke Morahan, Piers O’Conor, Sam Bedlow (Semi Radradra, 44), Alapati Leiua; Callum Sheedy, Harry Randall (Andy Uren, 75); Jake Woolmore (Yann Thomas, 44), Jake Kerr (Harry Thacker, 31), Kyle Sinckler (John Afoa, 49), Dave Attwood (John Hawkins, 41), Joe Joyce, Fitz Harding, Sam Jeffries, Nathan Hughes (Steven Luatua, 44).
Sale: Luke James; Thomas Roebuck, Sam James, Manu Tuilagi (Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 57) (Coenie Oosthuizen, 64), Aaron Reed; Robert du Preez, Faf de Klerk, Bevan Rodd, Akker van der Merwe (Ewan Ashman, 57), Nick Schonert (Tommy Taylor, 64), Jacobus Wiese, Lood de Jager (JP du Preez, 46), Jean-Luc du Preez (Simon McIntrye, 64), Jono Ross, Dan du Preez. Sin-bins: de Klerk (19-28), Schonert (48-57).
Sent off: Reed (36).