Record-breaking Bears stun Bulls with nine-try display

THE records tumbled on Saturday in Bristol Bears' first-ever visit to South Africa, as the English side outgunned a struggling Vodacom Bulls side 61-49 in Pretoria to book a place in the knockout rounds and ensure they sit in the top two of Pool 4 heading into the final weekend of group games in the Champions Cup.

- John Evely reports

A top-two spot ensures a home tie in the last 16 knockout round, but the Bears will almost certainly have to better Bordeaux next week to cement it. In a frankly astonishing game at Loftus Versfeld, Bristol scored nine tries to run up their record tally of points in an away game in the Champions Cup.

Noah Heward became just the second Bristol player to score a hat-trick in the Champions Cup as the Bears exploded out of the blocks to record the quickest attacking bonus point of the campaign so far with less than 16 minutes on the clock as the fourth try was scored.

Benhard Janse van Rensburg, Max Lahiff, Kalaveti Ravouvou, twice, Kieran Marmion and Pedro Rubiolo all breached the home side's try line, with Tom Jordan having a much improved day off the kicking tee to add 16 points from eight successful conversions.

But for all the attacking success, where was the defensive steeliness Bristol have shown in recent weeks? A struggling Bulls side, on a seven-game losing streak, albeit with 10 Springboks in the starting XV, ran in seven tries to score more points against the Bears than any other side this season.

The hosts touched down twice through Stravino Jacobs, with single scores from Jeandre Rudolph, David Kriel, Sebastian de Klerk, Willie le Roux, and a penalty try, with Handre Pollard converting all six of his kicks for 12 points in a Super Rugby-style throwback of a game.