Bristol achieved their first home victory of the season with a gritty bonus-point win against a notably altered Northampton team.
Northampton surged to a 15-0 advantage within the first 20 minutes, thanks to tries from George Hendy and Josh Kemeny. However, Bristol quickly responded with two tries from Kalaveti Ravouvou and Gabriel Ibitoye, bringing them back into the match. Ravouvou’s second try during his first start of the season allowed Bristol to take a slim lead, before Joe Batley further extended their advantage with a fourth try just 10 minutes before the final whistle. James Ramm managed to score for Northampton with just a minute remaining, but it was too late for the Saints, marking their sixth consecutive Premiership loss on the road.
This victory also extends Bristol’s winning streak against Northampton to four matches and places them 10 points ahead of their rivals at the top of the table, pending the outcome of other fixtures that weekend. Northampton’s head coach Phil Dowson made 10 changes for this match, resulting in the absence of several key international players, including Fin Smith. Despite a shaky start from Bristol, they managed to capitalize on early errors from their opponents.
Makepeace-Cubitt, a debutant, got the scoring underway for the Saints with an early penalty. Northampton quickly doubled their lead, with Hendy crossing after a well-placed pass from Tom Pearson, followed by Kemeny finishing a two-on-one situation shortly after.
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