Harry Randall outshines England rival Ben Spencer as Bristol stun Bath

There is little like a frantic derby to reinforce the Premiership’s value. In this one, Bristol Bears married substance with customary style to give themselves a blueprint for the season.

Gabriel Oghre epitomised their intensity at hooker, with fellow forwards Joe Batley, James Dun and Fitz Harding all relentless. Santiago Grondona bagged two tries on his competitive debut for the Bears and Benhard Janse van Rensburg delivered another influential display.

While they had two tries chalked off and registered four more, Bath deserved no more than a bonus point. Against opponents that had been outgunned by Gloucester eight days previously, they were not as alert or accurate.

Days ahead of a pre-autumn England training camp, Harry Randall overshadowed Ben Spencer in a tussle between two scrum-halves bidding for game time in the likely absence of Alex Mitchell. They are contrasting operators. Spencer boasts a kicking repertoire capable of controlling games. Randall, who came off the bench against Japan in June without getting a shot in the New Zealand series, is all fizz. This suits Pat Lam’s template beautifully.

Steve Borthwick must decide if it will work for England. To start Randall on Nov 2 against the All Blacks, ahead of Spencer and Jack van Poortvliet, would represent a rather bold push for zippy phase play. England, for all the verve of George Furbank and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, have certainly seemed weakened whenever Mitchell has been off the field this year.

Late on here, Randall cut down Jaco Coetzee, the marauding Bath back-rower. Among his final contributions was to burrow into a breakdown among far heavier figures, almost earning a turnover.

”[England] have got to get speed of ball and one bit of feedback from Steve [Borthwick] was that he wanted scrum-halves to be quicker,” Lam said. “Ben Spencer is a really good player, but his teams tend to kick more. Harry’s strength is his speed, his sniping and his ability to put teams under pressure. If they want like-for-like for Mitchell, Harry is that man.”

For Bath, on the back of two victories, this was a bloody nose. They have strengthened their squad since losing to Northampton Saints in a gripping Premiership decider four months ago and should be in the play-off shake-up – at least – next spring. Despite injuries to Will Muir and Joe Cokanasiga, Johann van Graan fielded a strong match-day 23. Alfie Barbeary was surplus to requirements and warmed up as opposition for the starters.

Following the Gloucester setback, Lam demanded a response from his Bears. “The satisfying thing is that we have been predicted to finish in the bottom three,” he added. “That performance was a truer version of what we are.”

The Rec pitch usually becomes a pudding by December, but looked pristine in October sunshine. Bristol need no second invitation to have a crack, of course. Within two minutes, Gabriel Ibitoye tore through the middle and threw an overhead offload that led to Max Malins’ fifth try of the season.

Bath levelled matters when Sam Harris, their 21-year-old full-back, ghosted 50 metres through a porous kick-chase, but a brace from Grondona, the Argentina flanker who had returned from a significant knee injury, sandwiched Van Rensburg’s close-range score. Batley’s line-out leadership yielded a solid platform and a stream of penalties.

After AJ MacGinty’s penalty extended the visitors’ lead to 29-7 early in the second period, Bristol produced a frenzied period of defence. They did lose Grondona to a yellow card, and were breached with two quick-fire tries from Will Butt and Ross Molony, both engineered by Finn Russell.

Just as Bath seized momentum, though, Bristol popped it. MacGinty broke and Sam Underhill, who had replaced Guy Pepper a couple of minutes previously, was sin-binned for slowing down the ruck. Bristol’s heroic forwards fancied a maul, and heaved Oghre over.

While Lawrence tip-toed down the touchline for a consolation, the match ended with Bristol defenders hurling themselves into harm’s way and causing their neighbours to cough up possession. “The Premiership is a phenomenal competition,” said a magnanimous Van Graan. “If you are only 90 per cent on your game, you will get beaten like we did today.”

Match details

Scoring: 0-5 Malins try, 0-7 MacGinty con, 5-7 Harris try, 7-7 Russell con, 7-12 S Grondona try, 7-14 MacGinty con, 7-19 Janse van Rensburg try, 7-24 S Grondona try, 7-26 MacGinty con, 7-29 MacGinty penalty, 12-29 Butt try, 14-29 Russell con, 19-29 Molony try, 21-29 Russell con, 21-34 Oghre try, 21-36 MacGinty con, 26-36 Lawrence try
Bath: S Harris (C Redpath, 53); T de Glanville, O Lawrence, W Butt, R McConnochie (L Schreuder, 72); F Russell, B Spencer; B Obano (F van Wyk, 43-53, 64), N Annett (T Dunn, 52), T du Toit (W Stuart, 64), Q le Roux (R Molony, 57), C Ewels, T Hill, G Pepper (S Underhill, 57), M Reid (J Coetzee, 53)
Bristol Bears: M Malins (J Bates, 78); R Lane, B Janse van Rensburg, J Williams (J Jenkins, 16), G Ibitoye; A MacGinty, H Randall (K Marmion, 78); E Genge (J Woolmore, 55), G Oghre (W Capon, 45-54), M Lahiff (G Kloska, 55), J Dun (J Owen, 74), J Batley, S Luatua (B Grondona, 78), S Grondona, F Harding
Referee: Mr C Ridley
Yellow cards: S Grondona, 49, S Underhill 62