Bristol to play Sale in extra Premiership Rugby Cup fixture

BRISTOL Bears and Bath have both been handed new opponents in the Premiership Rugby Cup pool stages in a bid by Premiership Rugby to salvage the semi-final qualification process in the competition following the withdrawal of Wasps and Worcester.

As approved unanimously by all Premiership Clubs at an Investor Board meeting, matches between Bristol Bears and Sale Sharks and London Irish and Bath have been added to the schedule to complete the qualification process.

Exeter Chiefs will also receive a points allocation from the match which should have been played against Worcester Warriors.

Once these adjustments have been completed the sides eligible for the last four will have played four matches, allowing for a fair and equitable semi-final qualification from the three pools.

Bristol, who can not qualify for the knockout stages, have confirmed their game will played on Friday, February 3rd (7.45pm).

The Bears have also confirmed this game will be added to the 2022-23 season ticket package because of the cancelled Premiership fixture versus Wasps on New Year’s Day.

The date of Bath’s fixture is yet to be confirmed but they also have no chance of progressing to the last four having lost all four of their fixtures in the competition, including a 25-22 defeat at Exeter Chiefs on Saturday. Early tries from Rus Taima and Adion Davis along with two Iwan Jenkins penalties to add to his conversions gave Exeter a 20-10 half-time lead after a try from Bath lock Ewan Richards and two kicks from Piers Francis.