Gloucester 24 - 40 Bristol: Louis Rees-Zammit bags try and is sin-binned for Bears in feisty PREM Cup derby

It was a strong start from the hosts as Will Knight opened the scoring, just four minutes in, with a beautiful pick and go from the ruck after the young Gloucester pack forced multiple breakdown penalties within the first five minutes. George Barton’s first attempt from the tee of the evening was kicked wide of the uprights.

Gabriel Oghre answered back for the Bears just nine minutes later capitalising on a driving maul to thunder over the line. AJ MacGinty missed his first kick of the night levelling the scores early on.

Bristol asserted dominance midway through the first half with a pair of tries in short succession. The first through former Gloucester man Louis Rees-Zammit. The Welshman broke through the unsuspecting Gloucester defence to dive over the line in the 22nd minute, to a sea of boos from the Gloucester faithful.

Sam Grahamslaw scored just four minutes later after a strong set of forward carries. MacGinty converted with both attempts from the tee putting the Bears up 19-7.

The bonus point was secured for Bristol when in the 35th minute, a series of defensive penalties by Gloucester handed The Bears great field position and some strong running worked an overlap for Joe Owen to stride through untouched. MacGinty continued his success from the boot converting his third of the night.

A halfway line scuffle after some foul play by Rees-Zammit saw both Caio James and Rees-Zammit get shown to the sinbin in the 36th minute. Bristol were fast losing their discipline when Joe Jenkins was also shown a yellow card before half time.

Bristol Bears started the second half off strongly, despite being down to 13 men, when hooker Gabriel Oghre got his second of the match just 90 seconds after the teams kicked back off. Sam Worsley took over kicking duties and converted his first attempt of the night.

It was starting to become a beat down by the 50 minute mark when Bristol scored their sixth of the night through Paddy Pearce. Some strong Tom Jordan running and a silky offload set up Pearce, who ran a superb support line, with an easy score. Worsley got the extras once more.

Gloucester eventually got one back in the 58th minute when Max Knight powered through to get both Knight brothers on the scoresheet. Barton got the extras this time.

It was a bright few minutes for Gloucester as replacement tighthead prop Rhys Davies added Gloucester’s third try, just four minutes later, with a powerful goal-line carry to convert in the corner.

Gloucester got a bonus point try late on through 18 year old Ewan Caven. The young winger found space and exploited it expertly to run over untouched for Gloucester’s fourth.

Attendance: 9,667

Gloucester Rugby: 24

Tries: 4 ( W. Knight 4’, M. Knight 58’, Davies 62’, Caven 74’)

Conversions: 2(Barton 58’ 62’)

Penalties: 0

Yellow cards: 1 ( James 36’)

Red cards: 0

15. Jake Morris 14. Ewan Caven 13. Will Knight 12. Max Knight 11. Jack Cotgreave 10. George Barton 9. Mike Austin 1. Jono Benz-Salomon 2. George Knowles 3. Harry Wright 4. Deian Gwynne 5. Hugh Bokenham 6. Harry Taylor (captain) 7. Caio James 8. Will Trenholm

Replacements

16. Kealan Freeman-Price 17 George Alexander 18 Rhys Davies 19 Pete Paramore 20 Jack Gilbert 21 Rhys Price 22 Rio Ebanks 23 George Dufty

Bristol Bears: 40

Tries: 6 (Oghre 13’ 42’, Rees-Zammit 22’, Grahamslaw 26’, Owen 34’, Pearce 51’)

conversions: 5 (MacGinty 23’ 26’ 35’, Worsley 42’ 52’)

Penalties: 0

Yellow cards: 2 (Rees-Zammit 36’, Jenkins 37’)

Red cards: 0

15. Tom Jordan 14. Louis Rees-Zammit 13. Joe Jenkins 12. Toby Baker 11. Aiden Boshoff 10. Aj MacGinty 9. Harry Randall (captain) 1. Sam Grahamslaw 2. Gabriel Oghre 3. Lovejoy Chawatama 4. Paddy Pearce 5. Joe Owen 6. Luka Ivanishvili 7. Kofi Cripps 8. Ben Grondona

Replacements

16. Tomas Gwilliam 17. Louie Trevett 18. Jimmy Halliwell 19. Kenzie Jenkins 20. Fitz Harding 21. Max Pepper 22. Sam Worsley 23. Evan Morris

1. Jono Benz-Salomon - 5/10 – Didn’t make too much of an offensive impact but was solid with his defensive contribution.

2. George Knowles - 4/10 – It was a poor day for the Gloucester front row with Knowles throwing some wayward lineouts resulting in multiple possession turnovers in the first half.

3. Harry Wright - 3/10 – Consistently beaten in the scrum by Grahamslaw and his offensive and defensive contribution was minimal.

4. Deian Gwynne - 4/10 – Not as consistent in the second row as Bokenham but when moved to flanker late on in the game his performance really improved.

5. Hugh Bokenham - 5/10 – Bokenham had a decent first outing in Cherry and White, he conducted the lineout and set piece well but could’ve offered more offensively.

6. Harry Taylor - N/A – Taylor went off injured in the first 10 minutes and was an immediate loss for Gloucester with his leadership being sorely needed for the hosts as the game progressed on.

7. Caio James - 4/10 – James saw the sinbin and his discipline was of question throughout the game. It wasn’t his best performance but the talent is all there and is certainly one to watch in the future.

8. Will Trenholm - 5/10 – Trenholm tackled well and looks set to be solid for Gloucester this season from the back of the scrum.

9. Mikey Austin - 5/10 – Austin had a decent outing at scrum half, wasn’t spectacular but certainly wasn’t a liability either.

10. George Barton - 5/10 – Barton really stepped up with his leadership when Taylor went off injured. He distributed play well but couldn’t right the wrongs of the Gloucester defence.

11. Jack Cotgreave - 5/10 – Cotgreave really made a name for himself at the end of last season and the challenge of going against Louis Rees-Zammit didn’t phase him in the slightest.

12. Max Knight - 6/10 – He wasn’t as proficient as his brother but Max was a solid distributer of the ball and stepped up strongly in defence.

13. Will Knight - 8/10 – Him and his brother looked solid in the centre pairing throughout, Will was strong in his tackles, got himself on the scoresheet and was a bright spark in the Gloucester attack.

14. Ewan Caven - 5/10 – Caven saw very little of the ball but chased kicks well and his ability to find space resulted in a try.

15. Jake Morris - 5/10 – Morris was defensively strong even though he was playing out of his natural wing position. He didn’t offer much going forward but defensively decent.

Replacements - 5/10 – The Gloucester bench were arguably better than some of the starters with Jack Gilbert, Pete Paramore and Rhys Davies having themselves a solid day off the bench.

Louis Rees-Zammit’s return: All the eyes were on the Welshman as he returned to the club he left when he moved stateside to pursue the NFL dream. “LRZ” had an eventful return to Kingsholm as he got himself on the scoresheet and was sent to the sin bin in the first half for a tussle with Caio James. He played well and got a deserving round of applause from the Gloucester fans when he departed the pitch but it will be interesting to see if his ill discipline will cost him this season.

Bristol’s fluid attack: The Bears were superb in attack throughout the game, six tries and some silky play, mostly through Tom Jordan, allowed for the experienced Bristol side to split apart the young Gloucester side. The Bears were extremely solid last season in attack and it looks like the fast paced fluid rugby Pat Lam has embedded into the Bristol side is finally materialising.

Gloucester’s fruitful academy: This young Gloucester side consisted of 20 academy graduates showing how deep and exciting this young crop of Gloucester lads are. Director of Rugby George Skivington was full of praise for his young side “ the academy for us is massive, we need to bring young players through to stay competitive. This for me is the first year where we can see we are reaping the rewards of the hard work.” The wing has been one of Gloucester Rugby’s most exciting position over the past few seasons with some superb talents emerging from the academy. “we’ve been fortunate with some really good talent, Jack Cotgreave for example.”

Could this be Bristol’s season? Bristol last season had all the making of a championship winning side but a defeat to Bath in the semi-finals ended the sides’ dream of a title. With some superb offseason recruiting, including superstars Tom Jordan and Louis Rees-Zammit. This could be the year Bristol go one step further and lift the trophy.

The Knight brothers: Both Max and Will Knight got on the scoresheet tonight from the centres. The pair offered a glimpse of excitement in a poor Gloucester side. Both brothers put a superb attacking shift in and defensively they looked strong as well. The emergence of the brothers will thrill Gloucester who are already loaded in the centres with Seb Atkinson and Will Joseph being a dynamic pair in the midfield.