Second-best Bath trumped by Bears

BRILLIANT Bristol turned the formbook on its head with a statement win over their keenest rivals before a sell-out crowd at The Rec.

- ROGER PANTING

With Bath impressing in both their opening fixtures and Bears faltering in theirs, few would have given the visitors much of a chance but the result was no fluke as the hosts were knocked out of their stride by rampant opponents, who moved top of the Premiership table.

Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam said: “Johann van Graan has done a brilliant job here and they were expected to win as people have been predicting we would be finishing near the bottom.”

From the outset, Bristol always had more pace and urgency having nearly all of the stand-out performers in the match.

Hooker Gabriel Oghre got through an astonishing amount of work while Steven Luatua rolled back the years to impress together with fellow flanker Santiago Gordona, the new recruit from Argentina.