Bristol Bears heap more misery on winless South Africans

South Africa’s struggles in Europe continued as their reserve XV slumped to a 26-18 defeat at the hands of a fired-up Bristol in front of a sell-out crowd of 26,357 at Ashton Gate.

The first-choice Springboks have already lost internationals to Ireland and France and now their ‘A’ side followed up last week’s 28-14 defeat to Munster in Cork with another very poor display in the south-west of England.

In contrast, Gallagher Premiership strugglers Bristol will be buoyed by this morale-boosting result over a squad containing 12 full internationals in their match-day 23.

Joe Batley and Luke Morahan were at the forefront of the home side’s effort, with Bears’ tries coming from Gabriel Ibitoye and Yann Thomas. Callum Sheedy converted both and added four penalties.

Ntuthuko Mchunu and Sikhumbuzo Notshe touched down for the visitors, with Johan Goosen converting one and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu kicking two penalties.

One of those Feinberg-Mngomezulu penalties put the visitors ahead with less than three minutes gone and Bristol soon suffered another blow when captain Joe Joyce departed with a shoulder injury to be replaced by John Hawkins.

Bears took some heart from a sharp break from scrum-half Will Porter which enlivened a disjointed opening period. His dart was supported by Batley, which took the home side into the opposition 22 for the first time before Springbok lock Jason Jenkins was yellow carded for a high challenge on Fitz Harding.

Sheedy slotted over the resulting penalty but Feinberg-Mngomezulu kicked his second to give his side a 6-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Another storming run from Batley created the game’s first try-scoring opportunity but excellent covering from the visitors prevented Sheedy and Ibitoye from forcing their way over in the left-hand corner.

However, Bears still picked up the next score with a penalty from Sheedy bringing the teams level at 6-6 before Jenkins was able to return from the sin-bin with no further damage done to the scoreboard.

After 31 minutes, Bristol took the lead for the first time when Jake Heenan and Morahan combined cleverly in limited space to create an opening for Ibitoye to race over.

Sheedy fired over an excellent touchline conversion to give his side a 13-6 interval lead, a fair reward for being the more enterprising side in the first half.

Seven minutes after the restart though, the South Africans reduced the arrears.

Probes from Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Elrigh Louw put the home defence on the back foot which allowed prop Mchunu to see a gap and rumble over.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu missed a routine conversion and Sheedy added salt to the wound as he succeeded with his third penalty before then securing a platform in the opposition 22 with a superb touch-finder.

From there, Bears capitalised when, following a succession of forward drives, Thomas forced his way over with Sheedy’s conversion giving the hosts a 12-point advantage going into the final quarter.

Sheedy added another penalty to seal victory and finish with a match-tally of 16 points before the South Africans had the final say with a late try from Notshe.