Lam relieved as Bears battle back to edge win

BRISTOL director of rugby Pat Lam was a relieved man as his Bears avoided one of the shocks of the season with a 24-23 victory over Worcester at Sixways.

In the clash of Premiership’s top versus bottom, struggling Worcester led 23-17 with eight minutes to go before Bristol win, Siva Naulago completed his hat-trick of tries.

Callum Sheedy then held his nerve to fire the winning conversion over from the touchline and save Bristol’s bacon.

Andy Uren was Bristol’s other tryscorer with Sheedy kicking two conversions.

Perry Humphreys and Francois Venter scored Worcester’s tries with Billy Searle kicking three penalties and a conversion. Jamie Shillcock added a conversion.

Lam said: “Worcester were desperate for the win and were very hungry for it. They had a real purple patch in the second half as we didn’t have any possession or territory.

“We should have scored more points in the first half but we were sloppy although we took our chance when it came late on and closed the game out nicely.”

After last week’s heroics for Wales, fly-half Sheedy had a mixed match including two missed two conversions in the first half but he stepped up to the mark by landing the matchwinner.

He said: “We weren’t great tonight but we knew we had to stay in the fight and hopefully an opportunity would come.”

The defeat was Worcester’s 11th in succession as they remain rooted to the bottom of the Premiership table.

They have not won since the opening day of the league season and their latest defeat left their head coach Jonathan Thomas feeling incredibly frustrated. He said: “I’m extremely proud of the boys as Bristol are a really wellconditioned side, who are top of the table for a reason.”

SOUTH Shields prospect Harry Gardiner has praised the Mariners after he signed a two-and-a-halfyear scholarship with Sunderland.

The young forward joined the Northern Premier League club’s academy in the summer of 2020 and has impressed during the early stages of his time at the 1st Cloud Arena.

His performances led to interest from several professional clubs – but it was Sunderland that made the first decisive move by offering Gardiner an eight-week trial.

The youngster impressed sufficiently to be offered the chance of a longer stay at the Academy of Light and will now continue his career in

Wearside.

After news of his move was confirmed, Gardiner thanked South Shields for a “valuable and enjoyable” spell with the club.

He told the club website: “I’ve absolutely loved it at South Shields.

“It’s a family club with so much togetherness running through it.

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