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Gallagher-Prime Minister
Bristol Boss Pat Lam hailed the “lethal” quality of Louis Rees-Zammit after he inspired the Bears to a 41-26 win over the Gallagher Prem champions Northampton at Ashton Gate.
The Wales The winger followed up his two tries against opening Prem opponents Sale Sharks with another double as Bristol triumphed in bonus point fashion.
“He’s sharp, you know, and he likes to finish,” Lam said.
“We know he’s lethal if we can give him time and space. He’s back on the wing (Rees-Zammit played fullback for club and country last season), and most importantly, that’s where he wants to be.”
Bristol conceded 94 points at Northampton in May and Lam added: “I think at the end of a crazy day when we lost that game we could have turned it around next week against Bath and show that it wasn’t us.
“I watched that game (Northampton) five times and even though it hurt, I watched it and built the whole pre-season around it in a way.”
Rees-Zammit also shone in defense as Bristol largely canceled out Northampton’s free-flowing play, while Harry Randall, Gabriel Oghre and Tom Jordan added more Bristol tries, and there were also penalty tries, with James Williams kicking three conversions and a penalty.
Northampton trailed by just a point at half-time and were in contention throughout but ultimately fell short despite scores from George Hendy (2), Alex Mitchell and Josh Kemeny, while Fin Smith kicked three conversions to finish with 13 men after bookings for Tommy Freeman and Ion Neculai.
There was also good news for Bristol when theirs England center Benhard Janse van Rensburg was able to watch the second half from the touchline after being carried off following a collision in midfield that required extended treatment.
Saints have not won a Premier League match at Ashton Gate since 2021, and director of rugby Phil Dowson said: “Frustration is the most important emotion.
“We just didn’t execute anything as well as we can. It’s a credit to the Bears in a lot of ways – we haven’t been under that much pressure so far this season – but it’s something we need to look at in practice.”
“They were right in our faces and didn’t let us execute. There were a lot of bright spots and we played some decent rugby at times, just not enough. And there were some stupid things we have to root out.”
“There were probably 200 breakdowns and they did a really good job. Fitz Harding (Bristol captain) was outstanding and they won that battle.”