Lam’s men too good for spirited Falcons

By ROGER PANTING

Bristol …………….37pts

Tries: Uren 3, Naulago 11, Morahan 19, Leiua 27

Conversions: Whiteley 3, 11, 19, 27

Penalties: Whiteley 43, 63, 76

Newcastle ……..21pts

Tries: Nordli-Kelemeti 24, Penalty Try 40, Earle 57

Conversions: Haydon-Wood 24, 57

BRISTOL completed four bonus-point wins in succession as they triumphed in an action-packed game of seven tries at Ashton Gate.

Newcastle looked down and out when they trailed 28-7 with less than half an hour gone but three yellow cards for Bristol forwards to add to early injuries to Luke Morahan and Andy Uren disrupted Bears and allowed the spirited Falcons to make a real game of it.

Bristol director of rugby, Pat Lam, said: “We can play a whole lot better than that as we were very messy at times. We played some good rugby and the flashy stuff can be really good but we need to tighten up on the little things.”

Some of Bristol's play in the first half was breathtaking as they carved a weak Newcastle defence to shreds. Morahan, Siva Naulago and Piers O'Conor were the tormentors in chief with their opponents struggling to cope with the speed of passing and fleet of foot.

However, up front it was a different story as the combative Falcons pack must have wondered how they were trailing 28-7 as they had the better of the forward battle throughout by forcing Bears into conceding frequent penalties with their fierce driving game.

Eventually their efforts gained some reward but crucially Falcons could only pick up seven points when the home side were depleted with players in the bin.

It took just three minutes for the first score. Neat footwork from O'Conor saw him carve a huge hole before sending Uren away on a 25-metre run to the line.

Uren immediately departed before Bears scored a second following swift passing from the three-quarters. Morahan then chipped ahead for Naulago to nip in ahead of a dithering Nathan Earle to collect and score.

Newcastle's miserable start continued when their scrum-half, Sam Stuart, limped off before Bristol broke away from inside their 22, with a pass from Dan Thomas giving Morahan the chance to easily evade Will Haydon-Wood on a 40-metre run.

Morahan then left the field with a leg injury before Newcastle picked up their first points when Tom Whiteley was careless in dealing with a kick ahead which allowed Cameron Nordli-Kelemeti to follow up and score.

Back came Bristol to collect their bonus-point try with replacement, Alapati Leiua, strolling through some weak tackling to touch down.

Despite the scoreline, Bristol continued to be on the wrong side of the referee and just before half-time both their locks, Dave Attwood and Joe Joyce, were sin-binned for collapsing mauls with Falcons picking up a penalty try to leave them trailing 28-14 at the interval.

After the restart, Whiteley made a sharp break to threaten the try-line before Mike Brown was sinbinned for a deliberate offside leaving Whiteley to kick the resulting penalty.

All three players returned from the sin-bin in time to see the visitors collect the next score when elusive running from Adam Radwan provided Earle with a walk-in before Whiteley kicked his second penalty.

Steven Luatua became the third Bristol player to be yellow-carded for dragging down a lineout drive but again Falcons couldn't capitalise with another penalty from Whiteley sealing victory.