The Cubs cruised to a 38-5 victory against the Exeter Chiefs to finally record their first victory in the Academy U18 League.
Early tries for Caspar Reeves, Evan Morris, Cai Gealy and Jeke Bulanauca saw Bristol earn the control of the match from the get-go, which they maintained throughout the game’s duration.
Morris bagged a second score after half time, with Arthur Guyot also bagging a try in the second period.
The Cubs got off to a scintillating start with Reeves opening the scores after 10 minutes.
Scrum half, Cai Gealy took the ball from the base of a scrum around 30 metres out from the Chiefs line and went blind, connecting with George Williams on the right flank.
With only one defender in front of him, Williams did well to draw his man before passing to Reeves who had the simple task of crossing the whitewash to make the score 5-0.
Bruno Lamb smashed the conversion between the sticks to increase the Cubs point tally to seven.
Over the next quarter of an hour the Cubs were relentless, running in three unanswered tries to build a dominant lead.
The first was created by Lamb who pumped a dummy and sprinted through a gap in the Exeter defence to advanced towards the 22, once there he threw a loopy pass over the top to Morris who dove over in the left corner.
Four minutes after Morris’ effort, Williams created the third try as the Bristol backline dazzled their opponents.
The outside centre ran a brilliant hard line off Lamb and exploded through the Chiefs line, passing in field to Gealy who dotted down under the posts, extending the lead to 19-0.
It went from bad to worse for the visitors as Henry Gascoyne was sent to the sin bin as punishment for his team’s accumulation of high tackles throughout the first half.
Against 14 men the Cubs scored another outstanding try with Lamb dinking a cross field pass to Bulanauca on the left wing.
After catching the ball, the winger stepped inside his opposite man and sped towards the line, diving over in the corner to grow the score to 24-0.
In the 30th minute the number of players each team had on the pitch was evened as Guyot was shown a yellow card for preventing a quick Exeter penalty.
The Chiefs profited from his yellow card period, using their driving maul to score on the brink of half time, making the score 24-5 at the interval.
Early in the second half, the powerful Bristol No. 8 returned to the field and showed his class.
After making a number of rib-tickling tackles in both the first and second period, Guyot was rewarded with a well taken opportunist try.
The ball was loose and it squirted out the side of a Cubs ruck in the Exeter 22 which Guyot reacted to quickly; he picked the ball up and rode multiple tackles before powering to the line from around 15 metres away.
With the Cubs leading 31-5, the game settled somewhat with the score remaining stagnant for long passages of the second half.
Bristol looked to have scored an impressive try midway through the half as Ben Carter carried his side deep into Exeter territory before being tackled, at which point the ball was spun wide to Bulanauca who scored in the corner – however the final pass by Lamb was judged to have gone forward and the try was chalked off.
Lamb and Bulanauca combined again later in the match to score the sixth try.
Lamb, who at this point in the game was playing fly half, stabbed a kick pass into the direction of the left winger who volleyed it forward.
After chasing the ball all the way to the Exeter 22, Bulanauca kicked it again before being overtaken by Morris who dove onto the ball to extend the score to 36-5.
Lamb successfully kicked his final conversion as the Cubs ran out 38-5 winners in the penultimate game of the academy season.
Report: Bristol Bears Under 17’s 20-24 Exeter Chiefs Under 17’s
The Under 17’s engaged in a thrilling back and forth encounter with the Chiefs Under 17’s side with the visitors winning by four points.
Bristol did brilliantly to fightback from 24-10 down midway through the second half to 24-20 as Jardel Furness and Archie Miller crossed the whitewash, but fell just short of a physical Exeter team.
Vinnie Sims and Matas Barisauskas were also on the score sheet, both scoring tries in the corner.
Both teams looked to attack the wide channels in the opening exchanges of the game, trying to wrestle for dominance.
After an Exeter try was disallowed for a forward pass, Alfie Clark forced the spark for the hosts.
The inside centre took a tap penalty before chipping in behind the Chiefs defence, being tackled in the air and earning the Bears another penalty whilst an opposition player was shown a yellow card.
The penalty led to a sustained period of Bristolian possession deep in the Exeter red zone, eventually resulting in a well-earned try.
Furness started the move, running a huge carry to get his side over the gain line before offloading from the floor to Keesan Stewart.
Stewart passed the ball wide to Sims who opened the scoring by dotting down in the corner.
Chiefs replied with a brace of tries on the verge of half time, leading 10-5 at the interval.
Bristol started the second period with great intensity as Freddie Thomas created a two-on-one in a wide channel with Barisauskas, who caught the ball and dove over in the corner to equalise the scores.
Midway through the second half, the visitors regained their lead, scoring a converted try from a driving maul.
Later on in the game, the Chiefs scored a fourth try, making the score 24-10 but soon after, with only a short period of the game left to play, the Bears struck back.
Michael Whittaker got his side into the Exeter 22 after a brilliant line break where he connected with Furness.
After a couple of phases in the Chiefs territory, Miller picked the ball from the base of a ruck and carried over to make the score 24-15.
Whittaker played his part in the next Bears try too, receiving the ball from Phillip Clarke and passing wide to Furness who dove over, reducing the deficit to just four points.
Despite the late Bristol fightback, Exeter managed to hold on, winning 24-20.
