Hat-trick for Fenton-Wells as Bears run riot in Russia

BRISTOL Bears ran in 11 tries to maul Enisei-STM and keep their hopes of reaching the European Rugby Challenge Cup knockout stages alive.

The Bears set a club record for points scored in an away European fixture as they racked up five first-half tries and crossed for six in the second period.

Hooker Nick FentonWells scored an unlikely hat-trick to add to a brace from Piers O’Conor and further tries from Joe Joyce, Nick Haining, Mat Protheroe, Jake Armstrong, Sam Graham and Tom Pincus.

The big win keeps Bristol in the hunt for top spot in Pool four ahead of next weekend’s return fixture at Ashton Gate.

The Bears were never going to be tamed in Western Russia. They set the tone inside four minutes when centre Sam Below sliced through the defence and found midfield partner Piers O’Conor on his shoulder to apply the finish.

Ramil Gaisin got the hosts on the scoreboard with a penalty after Bristol went offside, but Bristol stretched their lead moments later.

Some quick hands engineered space for lock Joe Joyce, who powered down the blindside to score.

Gaisin landed a second penalty but the Russians were powerless to stop their visitors from shunting their way to a third try. Sheedy sent a penalty to the corner and the pack drove hooker Fenton-Wells over at the corner to make it 17-6.

Gaisin struck to narrow the gap before more slick hands from the Bristol forwards put Haining into space to crash over at the corner.

Protheroe broke away on the brink of half-time to leave the scores at 27-9.

It took 12 second-half minutes for Pat Lam’s men to grab their sixth thanks to a well rehearsed move which bamboozled the defence and sent Armstrong over the line. Sheedy converted, and it wasn’t long until he was lining up another as his side swept forward from the restart to give Fenton-Wells his brace to extend their advantage to 41-9.

Graham was introduced off the bench and made an instant impact with a try. Then Pincus went from provider to scorer as Bristol ran riot, and Fenton-Wells snatched his third try from another driving lineout, before O’Conor grabbed a double to complete the rout.