RUTHLESS BEARS MAUL WELSHMEN
Scarlets
Bristol 52
GARY FITZGERALD
HARRY RANDALL signed off for England duty by inspiring Bristol to an eight-try European romp.
The dynamic young scrum-half showed off his quick feet and hands, and astute rugby brain, as Pat Lam’s men showed again they mean Champions Cup business.
The Pool B win helped boost Bristol’s rankings to third, but Munster will climb above them with a bonus point win over Wasps.
And director of rugby Lam (below) enthused: “I’m extremely pleased with the way the guys went about things. It was a strong performance in the second half, but we made things hard for ourselves until that final 20 minutes when the side showed what they can do.”
Bristol led 14-13 at half-time, with Fijian Ioan Lloyd and Semi
Radradra crossing for the visitors while Ryan Elias replied for the hosts who competed well and Rhys Patchell’s boot nudged them ahead.
But Bears were awarded a penalty try when Elias illegally knocked the ball out of Randall’s hands and the Scarlets man was sin-binned.
Scarlets hit back with a rapid break down the left, finishing with full-back James McNicholl diving across the line to level the game with 20 minutes remaining.
But then came a flood of Bristol tries to drown their rivals with Harry Thacker, Piers O’Conor, Siva Naulaugo, Radradra again and then Callum Sheedy crossing the line.
Scarlets boss Dwayne Peel said: “It was very disappointing as we competed so well, but then gave easy points away and let things slip badly at the end.”
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