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Northampton’s unbeaten start to the season came to a shuddering halt as they were blown away 46-12 by impressive Bristol at Ashton Gate. Saints lost Edoardo Todaro to a first-minute red card and it was downhill all the way after that as Bristol ran in six tries.
Scrum-half Kieran Marmion scored two and Tom Jordan, Kalaveti Ravouvou, Aidan Boshoff and Luka Ivanishvili also crossed, with Sam Worsley kicking five conversions and two penalties. JJ van der Mescht and Tom Litchfield scored Northampton’s tries, one of which Fin Smith converted.
“I’m really proud of the boys as we fought for everything, with the first half being brilliant,” said the Bristol head coach, Pat Lam. “As a result we got the outcome we wanted, five points against the top-of-the-table side and them leaving with nothing.”
Welsh wing Louis Rees-Zammit came on as an early replacement for the injured Jack Bates. He said: “I’m really enjoying it back in the Premiership and, after some disappointing results last season, we wanted to make Ashton Gate a fortress again. After today it’s three from three here. We wanted to use the air more today and we won the aerial battle with our forwards being magnificent.”
Saints director of rugby, Phil Dowson, was at a loss to explain his side’s performance. “It was ugly again at Ashton Gate and we’ll need to lick our wounds after that,” he said. “We seemed very flat and tepid and you’ll get found out against a side like Bristol, who come hard at you.”
Saints made a disastrous start by losing Todaro, newly capped by Italy, to an immediate red card. Todaro’s dangerous challenge on Worsley while he was in the air left the referee with little alternative and Bristol soon capitalised when Marmion quickly took a tap penalty to dart over.
Bristol soon scored another when Jordan ran a clever angle to collect a pass from James Williams for an easy run-in before they produced the try of the game by bemusing the opposition with some splendid inter-passing. It culminated in Harry Thacker bursting down the right touchline and, when the hooker was brought down, Marmion was on hand to pick up and score his second.
Bears suffered a blow when Bates left the field with an injury to be replaced by Rees-Zammit but it did not slow the hosts’ momentum as a thumping tackle by Benhard Janse van Rensburg on Smith enabled Ravouvou to seize possession before running 45 metres to score.
Northampton’s miserable first half was complete when they conceded a fifth try from replacement Boshoff, who collected a well-timed pass from Worsley to leave Bristol with a 35-0 interval lead.
Six minutes after the restart, Saints at last struck a blow when giant lock Van der Mescht forced his way over to reward their first period of pressure, but Worsley soon extended the home side’s lead with a straightforward penalty.
Saints, a more competitive side in the second half, scored a second from Litchfield after the centre won the race to collect a well-judged kick from George Furbank. Worsley added a second penalty for a match tally of 16 points before Ivanishvili finished off a driving lineout to emphasise Bristol’s superiority.
George Skivington hailed the centre Seb Atkinson’s impact on his return from injury in Gloucester’s 26-15 victory over Harlequins.
Atkinson, who excelled on England’s summer tour to Argentina, was ruled out of the Autumn Nations Series after suffering a knee and hip injury during the Prem defeat at Bath in mid-October. But he looked as though he had never been away as Gloucester claimed their first Prem win of the season at the sixth attempt.
“Having Seb back and his energy back was great. He is a guy you want to build things around,” Gloucester’s head coach Skivington said. “He is a tough lad and he deals with things pretty well. He controls what he can control. Seb is a massive part of it here. He is a leader and him being on the field is crucial for us.”
The full-back Ben Redshaw also shone, scoring two tries as Gloucester triumphed for the first time in league action since May. The flanker Lewis Ludlow and wing Ollie Thorley added further touchdowns for Skivington’s team, securing a bonus-point success complemented by the fly-half Ross Byrne kicking three conversions.
Quins had scored the first try through Cadan Murley and led 12-7 after Alex Dombrandt’s score, converted by Marcus Smith. A Smith penalty was Quins’ only score after half-time.
On Friday, Exeter came from 26-6 down to secure a dramatic 27-26 win and inflict a rare home defeat on Sale. Tries from Jack Yeandle, Olly Woodburn and Scott Sio, all converted by Henry Slade, gave the Chiefs victory.
Leicester extended Newcastle’s losing start to the Prem season with a 39-17 victory in a clinical five-try performance. It was a sixth defeat on the spin for the Red Bulls in front of another 10,000-plus crowd.
