Bristol beat Sale 34-24 as Rees-Zammit and Randall score twice

Bristol Bears began their league season with a 34-24 bonus-point victory at Sale Sharks, with Louis Rees-Zammit and Harry Randall each scoring twice. According to BBC Sport's match report, replacement hooker Tomas Gwilliam added the visitors' fifth try in the 73rd minute at CorpAcq Stadium, ending Sale's hopes of completing a second-half comeback.

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Sale had led through an early Luke Cowan-Dickie try after Bristol fly-half AJ MacGinty missed a penalty. A Bristol response involving a quick lineout was disallowed, but Rees-Zammit subsequently crossed following a pass from James Williams. George Ford's penalty gave Sale a five-point advantage before Rees-Zammit collected Tom Jordan's pass to score his second try and draw the sides level.

Bristol then moved ahead through a Williams penalty, and Randall scored before the interval to establish a 20-10 lead. The scrum-half's contribution gave the visitors a double-digit cushion after a first half in which they had initially been chasing the game. Bristol's starting side contained no new signings, with director of rugby Pat Lam able to call on returning senior players.

Tom O'Flaherty scored early in the second half to cut the deficit, only for Randall to answer with his second try. Sale kept the contest alive through another O'Flaherty finish after a break by debutant Elia Canakaivata. That left just three points separating the teams as the match entered its final 10 minutes, before Bristol's forwards produced the decisive response.

Gwilliam finished a driving maul to restore Bristol's control, and Sale could not overturn the resulting 10-point gap. Ford missed a penalty in the 79th minute that would have brought the hosts within losing bonus-point range. Sale finished with neither that consolation nor a four-try bonus, despite Cowan-Dickie's opening score and O'Flaherty's second-half double.

The result followed a difficult previous campaign for Sale, who finished seventh and suffered 13 league defeats. Bristol ended that season one position above them but 18 points better off. Speaking to BBC Radio Bristol after this victory, Lam credited his players' workrate and their efforts to support one another defensively. He said the performance rewarded their pre-season work and would give them confidence for the following week.