mens
Gallagher-Prime Minister
Courtney Lawes’ Sale debut ended in defeat ace Bristol ran in five tries to open their Prem Rugby campaign with an entertaining 34-24 win at Salford.
37 year old England great made his first appearance in the competition since leading Northampton to the title at Twickenham in 2024, but it was Pat Lam’s Bears who took the spoils.
After two seasons with French club Brive, Lawes returned to England with Sale and started in the back row as one of two debutants in the starting line-up alongside New Zealand scrum-half Xavier Roe.
The Sharks he scored through Luke Cowan-Dickie’s cross and half-time from winger Tom O’Flaherty, but Bristol duo Louis Rees-Zammit and Harry Randall scored twice before team-mate Tomas Gwilliam added a late fifth.
Selling a trio of new ones Wales forwards – Nicky Smith, Tomas Francis and Christ Tshiunza – all started on the bench against a Bristol side that did not feature new faces in the squad after flanker Ethan Staddon suffered an ACL injury.
However, he was joined on the sidelines by Kalaveti Ravouvou and Noah Heward Argentina lock Pedro Rubiolo was fit enough to play his first game since January.
Bristol forced early pressure but former Sale fly-half AJ MacGinty missed a relatively straightforward penalty early on.
From there, Sale began to enjoy a period of pressure which culminated in Cowan-Dickie squeezing home from close range inside the right channel after good work from Roe moments earlier.
George Ford added the conversion to make it 7-0 before Bristol came back for a try from fullback Tom Jordan disconnected after a quick line.
But the Bears scored their first try in the 12th minute when James Williams’ long pass found Rees-Zammit and the Wales international dived into the right corner.
Ford then converted a penalty for Sale, but Rees-Zammit had Bristol’s second try in the 23rd minute after a pass from Jordan and another cross into the right corner.
A minute before the break, the visitors scored a third try when scrum-half Randall took possession and dived over from close range.
Williams, who kicked a penalty in the 31st minute, then converted Randall’s try to give Bristol a 20-10 lead at the interval.
Early in the second half, winger Sale O’Flaherty raced over to score in the right corner and Ford’s second conversion cut Bristol’s lead to three points.
After a period of pressure on the Sale line, Bristol had their fourth try on 57 minutes when Randall sniped over the line from close range.
O’Flaherty again finished well for his second but Gwilliam converted from close range for Bristol’s fifth and Williams added his third conversion to leave Sale empty-handed.