Sharks off the mark by shocking the Bears

DMP Sharks shocked Bristol Bears to claim their first victory of the season at Shaftesbury Park.

After 16 games of trying and failing, DMP were inspired by Beth Blacklock’s 24-point haul to condemn Bears to defeat in their final home match.

Since the departure of Kim Oliver as head coach at the end of January, the hosts have lost six of their last seven matches to see any chance of moving up the standings dashed.

But a try for hooker Clara Nielson had given Bristol the lead inside five minutes, converted by Lauren Smyth.

The bright start made by Tom Lindsay’s side continued when Kyara Martin received a bullet pass from Smyth out wide and showed a burst of acceleration to score.

With ten minutes to go until half-time DMP sparked into life, launching a counterattack after winning the ball to set Rosie Blount loose to score in the corner.

A yellow card for Delany Burns for collapsing a maul opened the door to Sharks to take the lead in the closing stages of the half, with Blacklock and Amy Layzell crossing the whitewash.

Trailing 24-12, Bristol managed to see out the remaining minutes to return to the full complement of 15 players, and scored through Rownita Marston which owed wholly to an audacious offload by Ellie Mulhearn.

However, George Roberts clinched the bonus try for Sharks.