Sheedy hopes victory will build momentum

CALLUM Sheedy admits that Bristol Bears’ 26-18 win over a strong South African A at a packed Ashton Gate on Thursday night will live long in his memory and hopes it will be the catalyst for a change in form.

The tourists fielded 12 full caps in their matchday 23, but were a disjointed outfit and fell to their second defeat in a row after losing 28-14 to Munster in Cork last week.

Gabriel Ibitoye and Yann Thomas scored Bristol’s tries in front of sellout crowd of over 26,000 and Wales international Sheedy admits it was an evening that he will not forget in a hurry. He said: “It was a special night, playing against a national side on your home ground before a huge crowd, and will live with me for a long time.

“We knew we had to force errors from them and test their skills under pressure and we succeeded in forcing them to play deep.

“It was a massive defensive effort from us, especially just before halftime, when the crowd lifted us to win a turnover, when we were under huge pressure and ultimately it proved crucial. We know we have a dangerous back three and fortunately we were able to score tries at the right time.”

Bristol came into the game having lost five successive Premiership matches to drop into the bottom two of the standings, and high-flying Sale are their next league opponents.

Sheedy said: “We haven’t been happy with our results in the last four or five weeks, so hopefully this win will give us some momentum.”

Sikhumbuzo Notshe and Ntuthuko Mchunu scored the visitors’ tries, with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu kicking two penalties and Johan Goosen adding a conversion.