Premiership: Bristol and Harlequins beat Wasps and Worcester, Sale and London Irish share points

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Bristol Bears picked up a morale-boosting 31-19 bonus-point victory over Wasps in an entertaining Premiership clash at Ashton Gate on Friday.

The visitors were trailing by 21 points at one point in the contest and missed the chance to strengthen their footing in the leagues’ play-off positions.

Wasps were close to full strength in the forwards with the Willis brothers in harness in the back-row – Jack was making his first start since January last year – and Joe Launchbury back from England duty, but they made mistakes in defence.

Bristol‘s play-off bid had been all but ended by a run of six defeats in eight matches but they were smarting after the previous week’s loss at Worcester.

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There was little between the teams at the start with robust tackling forcing both to play behind the gainline, but Henry Purdy’s 50-22 after 13 minutes gave the Bears the launchpad for the game’s opening try.

Chris Vui secured the lineout 15 metres from the line and although Wasps repelled the initial drive, Harry Thacker engineered the second wave and the hooker was propelled over the line as the defence splintered.

Bristol were without 14 players. Five of them were scrum-halves, including two who were recruited last week, Toby Venner and Max Green, and they had no specialist cover on the bench.

They needed Theo Strang to remain standing and his pass created the Bears’ second try, if inadvertently. The ball bounced in front of Tiff Eden in the Wasps’ 22 and as the defence relaxed, the fly-half stepped between two defenders, outpaced the cover and found Antoine Frisch outside him.

Niyi Adeolokun scored Bristol’s third try, set up by Frisch, and it was not until the 39th minute that Wasps mustered a response. Gabriel Oghre scored from a driving lineout, although Bristol restarted with a penalty because of a fracas started by prop Biyi Alo.

Bristol secured the bonus point three minutes after the restart when Alapati Leiua finished off a handling move.

Wasps responded with their best moments in the game but Alfie Barbeary and Jacob Umaga squandered overlaps and Jeffrey Toomaga-Allen ruined a promising attack by taking out Thacker off the ball.

They eventually scored after 56 minutes. The try was gift-wrapped by Theo Strang who, trying to extend a ruck on his line following a turnover to give him room to box-kick, allowed the ball to come out and it was pounced on by Will Porter.

Porter got the crowd twitching when he set up Marcus Watson with six minutes to go, but an Eden penalty meant the visitors left Ashton Gate with nothing.

Bonus-point win for Harlequins at Worcester

Meanwhile, Harlequins claimed five valuable Premiership points with a hard-fought 29-21 victory over a resurgent Worcester at Sixways.

The Warriors competed fiercely but the visitors were the more potent attackers and despite some nervous moments were deserved winners.

Tyrone Green, Danny Care, Tom Lawday and Archie White scored tries for Quins with Will Edwards converting two. Tommy Allan added a penalty and a conversion.

Noah Heward, Sione Vailanu and Seb Atkinson were Worcester’s try-scorers, with Finn Smith converting two and Billy Searle one.

Worcester conceded three early penalties to give their opponents an attacking platform but Quins could not capitalise as they knocked on 10 metres from the try-line.

The Warriors made them pay by scoring the opening try in the 18th minute. On halfway, Alex Hearle exploded past a couple of weak tackles to race into the clear. The wing fed scrum-half, Gareth Simpson, who was hauled down but the ball was recycled for Heward to squeeze over.

The visitors soon replied with their opening try. They turned down a straightforward kick at goal in favour of a driving line-out and were rewarded when a well-judged kick from Edwards was skilfully controlled by Green, who picked up to score.

Quins then took the lead when Andre Esterhuizen’s power brushed aside would-be tacklers to send Hugh Tizard hurtling into the home 22 before Care saw a small gap to wriggle over.

However, the Warriors’ response was swift with Oli Morris haring down the left flank to set up a sustained period of pressure before a well-timed pass from Smith created an easy run-in for Vailanu.

Smith added the conversion to leave the scores level at 14-14 at the interval.

After the restart, a missed tackle from Worcester lock Graham Kitchener saw Cadan Murley secure the platform from which the visitors were able to dominate the opening exchanges of the second half.

A superb run from Huw Jones saw him evade numerous defenders but Lawday was unable to collect the centre’s poor pass, which surely have resulted in Quins’ third try.

It mattered little as moments later an excellent long pass from Edwards saw White sidestep a defender to score.

Quins then suffered a blow when Care was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on and Worcester looked to have immediately capitalised but TMO replays showed Vailanu had lost possession in the process of touching down.

Quins’ problems were exacerbated when lock Matt Symons limped off but the home side were not able to take advantage of Care’s absence, who returned with no damage done to the scoreboard.

Replacement fly-half Allan played at scrum-half when Care was in the sin-bin and it was he who extended his side’s lead with a penalty.

Care’s return was the catalyst for his side to dominate and they were rewarded with their bonus-point try from Lawday.

Worcester had the final say with a first Premiership try for Atkinson, although it was not enough to secure a bonus point.

London Irish fight back to almost beat Sale Sharks

Elsewhere, Paddy Jackson missed a late conversion and penalty as London Irish had to be content with a very creditable 27-27 draw against Sale Sharks in the Premiership match at the AJ Bell Stadium.

Both teams struggled to find their rhythm in the first half but each side did manage to touch down, with Terrence Hepetema going over for the Exiles and Dan du Preez responding for Sale, before AJ MacGinty kicked the hosts 8-7 ahead at the interval.

Jackson scored a penalty at the start of the second period, which began a remarkable series of events and led to one of the best second halves of the season.

The match continually went back and forth, with Jean-Luc du Preez and twin brother Dan, who completed his brace, touching down for the Sharks, and James Stokes and Benhard Janse van Rensburg hitting back for the visitors.

That left the game finely poised at 22-22 but Arron Reed then moved the home side ahead with a quarter of the clash remaining.

London Irish continued to play their free-flowing game, however, and levelled through Nick Phipps. Jackson missed the conversion, though, and then a late three-pointer as they were forced to settle for a share of the spoils.

The first period proved to be a competition of who could make the most mistakes and it was ultimately a frustrating opening half-hour for both.

Sale had the better of the early exchanges, putting the visitors under pressure via their heavy-duty ball carriers, but they could not take advantage.

Lood de Jager had a try ruled out for a knock on before a poor Faf de Klerk pass, which was intended for Tom Roebuck, was intercepted by Ollie Hassell-Collins.

It was then the Exiles’ turn to get on the front foot and waste opportunities. Firstly, Hassell-Collins knocked on with the line in sight before they had a series a set-pieces in the hosts’ 22 but failed to finish.

Declan Kidney’s men did, however, finally break the deadlock and it came in thrilling fashion. Lucio Cinti did the hard work, breaking through and taking play to within 10 metres of the line, before it was finished superbly by Hepetema.

There was a delay as the officials checked several innocuous-looking incidents but it was eventually awarded and the Exiles led 7-0.

The Sharks had not shown the form which had seen them win four Premiership matches in a row, but they were handed a chance to build some pressure after an error from the away side.

It led to De Klerk breaking down the left and it looked as though the scrum-half was about to score until a cynical trip from Stokes halted his run.

A penalty try was slightly surprisingly not given – the officials deeming there to be enough cover – but Stokes was sent to the sin-bin.

And almost immediately the hosts had their try as Dan du Preez touched down from close range. Although MacGinty failed to convert, the fly-half did kick a penalty to hand his team the lead at the break.

Jackson then took Irish back in front early in the second half before Sale went over for the second time when Jean-Luc du Preez scored.

It was proving to be a see-saw clash and back came the visitors, who levelled matters as Stokes made up for his earlier indiscretion by crossing the whitewash.

The second half was in complete contrast to the first and Alex Sanderson’s charges were soon over the line again as Dan du Preez secured his brace, minutes after Olly Cracknell had been yellow carded for the Exiles.

With MacGinty adding the extras, Sale perhaps felt they had the momentum, but London Irish had other ideas and Van Rensburg’s opportunistic effort, allied by Jackson’s conversion, put the game in the balance at 22-22.

Reed then touched down for the Sharks, leaving the hosts 27-22 in front going into the latter stages.

Irish maintained their pressure and deservedly went over through Phipps. It gave Jackson a conversion to put them ahead, but his effort was awry.

The fly-half was then afforded another opportunity with the last kick of the game, but once again his difficult long-range attempt was off target.

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