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Bristol beat Bath in Prem bottom battle
By PA
Bath remain rooted to the bottom of the Premiership table after their fierce rivals Bristol won an error-ridden clash before a capacity crowd at The Rec.
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It was only Bristol’s second away win in their last 15 trips but it maintained their recent impressive run against Bath after they beat them for the seventh time in eight outings.
Bristol scored two tries to one with Siva Naulago and James Williams both crossing with AJ MacGinty kicking a penalty and a conversion.
Miles Reid scored Bath’s try with Piers Francis adding two penalties and a conversion but crucially the home fly-half missed with three kicks at goal which ultimately proved decisive.
Bristol conceded three early penalties and from the third, Francis had the chance to give his side the lead but his kick from 50 metres fell short.
That was as close as either side came to scoring in a disjointed first 15 minutes with the teams illustrating why they lie in the bottom three of the Premiership table.
After a plethora of knock-ons and wayward passing, Bristol conjured up the first score of the game when a well-timed pass from Harry Randall let Semi Radradra burst through the home defence to set up a try for Williams.
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MacGinty converted for Bristol to lead 7-0 at the end of the first quarter before Bath again missed the opportunity to come onto the scoreboard when Francis missed a straightforward penalty.
The home side were given three further kickable penalty chances in quick succession but changed their tactic and opted for attacking line-outs.
Joe Cokanasiga came close to scoring but the wing was forced into touch by an excellent cover tackle from Gabriel Ibitoye.
From another penalty close to the visitors’ line, Reid forced his way over with a conversion and a penalty from Francis giving Bath a 10-7 lead at the interval.
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The hosts lost Cokanasiga at half-time to an injury and within two minutes of the restart they suffered another blow when Bristol regained the lead.
A clean break from MacGinty put the defence on the back foot and when the ball was recycled, Naulago brushed aside a weak tackle from Matt Gallagher to score.
Bath’s woes continued when full-back Tom de Glanville left the field for an HIA but their spirits were restored when first MacGinty was yellow-carded before Francis kicked the resulting penalty.
De Glanville and MacGinty both returned and it was the Bristol fly-half who put Bears back in front with a simple penalty with 14 minutes remaining before Francis crucially missed with a 35-metre kick to give Bristol the points.
