Bristol Bears survived a late fightback from Benetton Rugby to claim a bonus-point victory in a thrilling Round 3 encounter in the Investec Champions Cup at Ashton Gate.
The home side enjoyed a dream start when James Williams opened the scoring after running a sharp line to take Kieran Marmion’s pass to dive in under the posts. Harry Byrne stepped up to add the extras on his home debut for the Bears.
Benetton responded on 13 minutes through Rhyno Smith – although Tomas Albornoz was unable to level the scores from the tee – but it was not long before Bears had their second try of the afternoon following the quick-thinking of Marmion.
Harry Thacker shrugged off several Benetton defenders with ease as he broke through the centre of the field before his attempted offload was booted on the volley by Marmion, with the scrum-half stepping on the gas to out-sprint the green and white shirts and dot down.
Byrne added two more to extend the lead to 14-5 but the momentum swung in favour of the visitors before half-time as Manuel Zuliani hit back – converted this time by Albornoz – before Santiago Grondona was sent to the sin bin on 37 minutes.
The Italian outfit took advantage of their extra man just before the interval as Matt Gallagher raced over in the corner to put Benetton 17-14 ahead at half-time.
Bears came out firing at the start of the second half, piling pressure on the Benetton forwards with a driving maul before Max Lahiff provided the finishing touches as Byrne converted.
Ellis Genge and Steven Luatua joined the action for the final half hour, replacing Yann Thomas and Viliame Mata, and Bears further asserted their authority with a bonus-point try.
This time it was Thacker who took centre stage, capitalising on a superb line and offload from captain Fitz Harding to cross under the posts as Bears moved 28-17 ahead.
Marmion appeared to put the result beyond doubt just before the hour with his second of the afternoon, with Byrne nailing a difficult conversion to extend the lead to 35-17.
But Benetton were not quite done yet and claimed a bonus-point of their own courtesy of Bautista Bernasconi before Tommaso Menoncello ran in a superb fifth try from 50 metres.
There was more drama to come in the closing stages as Benetton claimed field position from a penalty before flinging the ball out wide for Smith to score his second try and set up a potential match-winning conversion, only for the TMO to rule it out for obstruction.
As chants of ‘Bristol’ rang around Ashton Gate, Bears withstood further late pressure from the visitors before stealing the ball back and kicking out to secure all five points.
Bristol Bears: 15. Benjamin Elizalde, 14. Jack Bates, 13. Kalaveti Ravouvou, 12. James Williams, 11. Noah Heward, 10. Harry Byrne, 9. Kieran Marmion; 1. Yann Thomas, 2. Harry Thacker, 3. Max Lahiff, 4. Joe Owen, 5. Joe Batley, 6. Santiago Grondona, 7. Fitz Harding (c), 8. Viliame Mata.
Replacements: 16. Gabriel Oghre, 17. Ellis Genge, 18. George Kloska, 19. Steele Barker, 20. Steven Luatua, 21. Harry Randall, 22. Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 23. Rich Lane.
Benetton Rugby: 15. Rhyno Smith, 14. Matt Gallagher, 13. Tommaso Menoncello, 12. Ignacio Brex, 11. Onisi Ratave, 10. Tomas Albornoz, 9. Andy Uren; 1. Thomas Gallo, 2. Siua Maile, 3. Giosué Zilocchi, 4. Niccolò Cannone, 5. Federico Ruzza, 6. Michele Lamaro (C), 7. Manuel Zuliani, 8. Lorenzo Cannone.
Replacements: 16. Bautista Bernasconi, 17. Simone Ferrari, 18. Enzo Avaca, 19. Eli Snyman, 20. Riccardo Favretto, 21. Alessandro Izekor, 22. Alessandro Garbisi, 23. Leonardo Marin.
