MATCH REPORT: SHARKS 24 v 34 BRISTOL BEARS
Sharks slipped to an opening day defeat at the CorpAcq Stadium as Bristol Bears won in Manchester for only the second time since 2017.
A Sharks side featuring eight new recruits making their first league appearances for the club led early on but plenty of defensive resilience allied with attacking endeavour from the visitors saw the lead change hands before half time.
Despite a late rally in a tight second period, Alex Sanderson’s men couldn’t close the gap and will be left ruing handling errors and missed chances as they lost their first opening day game for seven seasons.
Sharks came out of the blocks quickly and took the lead in the 7th minute after a quick tap from Xavier Roe got them on the front foot. That led to a first try of the season for Luke Cowan-Dickie which was converted by George Ford.
Sharks continued to press and play at pace, as the Sharks Director of Rugby had promised they would, but were caught with a sucker punch in the 12th minute when a kick from Sharks old boy AJ MacGinty caused confusion in the backfield.
Bears initially thought the lineout was theirs and took a quick throw to score, but the TMO ruled Tom O’Flaherty hadn’t touched it. Sharks’ reprieve was short-lived however and a minute later the ball was flung wide for Louis Rees-Zammit to dive over. The conversion was missed by another former Shark ,James Williams, to leave the score 7-5.
On 16 minutes the Sharks pack flexed their muscle to win a penalty in front of the sticks which George Ford converted to make it 10-5. But those were to be the final points of the half for the home team despite working themselves into good positions on plenty of occasions.
First, Bears drew level on 25 minutes when Rees-Zammit scored his second in the same corner as the first and after a Williams penalty had put Bears in front 10-13, the visitors had the last word when Harry Randall dived over to the left of the posts to make it 10-20 at the break.
Sharks started the second period on the front foot and their early endeavours were rewarded when Tom O’Flaherty cruised through a gap to score in the right corner.
Ford converted to make it a three-point game, and that score remained until the 57th minute when Bears restored their ten-point advantage through another converted Randall try.
Back came Sharks and it looked like the crowd were in for a grandstand finish when a break from the excellent Joe Carpenter led to a second try O’Flaherty.
It looked like game-on, but Bears struck back immediately when replacement hooker Tomas Gwilliam shoved his way over from close range. Williams converted to seal a 24-34 win for the Bears.
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