Janse van Rensburg scores as Bristol Bears win 14-try thriller

03/22/2025 04:46 PM

SATURDAY WRAP: Bristol kept up the pressure on Premiership leaders Bath with a 52-38 win over strugglers Exeter in a thrilling West Country derby.

The match saw 14 tries in total while 64 points were on the board before the interval, making it the highest-scoring first half in Premiership history.

The hosts managed six tries to Exeter's four in that 10-try period, with Bristol loose forward Santiago Grondona also picking up a 30th-minute red card.

It took the Bears only 90 seconds to open the scoring when wing Jack Bates capitalised on Exeter making a mess of gathering the kick-off.

The Chiefs struck back almost immediately with a try by Martin Moloney off a line-out move, before centres James Williams and Henry Slade traded further tries to leave the scoreline 12-12 after nine minutes, with some people still taking their seats.

Bristol began to take a grip on the game as centre Benhard Janse van Rensburg – straight from the kick-off – and Williams added touchdowns to bring up the Bears' bonus point inside the first 16 minutes.

Exeter, though, responded in style, with skipper Dafydd Jenkins crossing, moments after England back Slade had been poleaxed by a thunderous tackle from Fijian No.8 Viliame Mata, which was ultimately deemed a legal tackle even though Slade went on to fail a head injury assessment.

However, Grondona was not so fortunate after a head-on-head tackle on Moloney, moments after Bates had scored his second try of the game and Bristol's fifth, following a break from halfway after a line-out.

Grondona's misdemeanour came in the build-up to a bonus-point try for the Chiefs from wing Josh Hodge after a lovely piece of work down the left-hand touchline.

Thirteen minutes then elapsed before Bristol rounded off the half with a sixth try through England scrumhalf Harry Randall, with flyhalf Harry Byrne slotting his fifth conversion of the contest to leave the Bears 40-24 ahead at the break.

It took Bristol only seven minutes of the second half to get the scoreboard rolling again, with replacement Steven Luatua forcing his way over from close range.

Bates then completed an impressive hat-trick with another run-in down the touchline to take the hosts past the half-century mark.

Club captain Jack Yeandle was a popular scorer of Chiefs' fifth try as both sides started to tire, while centre Will Rigg managed a late consolation as the visitors chased an unlikely second bonus point.

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Understrength Harlequins upset Saracens

Marcus Smith, Chandler Cunningham-South and Fin Baxter were rested following the completion of the Six Nations last weekend, while Cadan Murley and Danny Care were injured, but their understudies rose to the occasion magnificently.

Trailing 0-12 until the arrival of the final quarter, they crossed through centre Ben Waghorn and then crept ahead through three penalties from replacement flyhalf Jamie Benson.

Will Porter put the icing on Harlequins' first away win over their London rivals since 2012 by racing over in the 79th minute as the underdogs gave their play-off hopes a significant boost.

Saracens were poor in front of a crowd of 54,414 and the misery of their defeat was made worse by the fact it came despite fielding a full complement of England stars, apart from Ben Earl who had been ruled out by an infected knee wound.

Initially, Saracens appeared to have emerged from the Six Nations break in better shape by crossing after just five minutes when a quickly taken free-kick by Jamie George was followed by a strong carry from Theo McFarland, who dived over.

The move had begun when Alex Dombrandt threw an intercept pass and, while Quins almost cracked for a second time soon after, they regrouped well and spent the rest of the first quarter testing the home defence without success.

Saracens' ferocious breakdown work forced a timely turnover near their own posts, but they could not escape their half for any length of time as a ragged match continued to produce numerous unforced errors.

Quins were controlling territory and possession but points proved elusive, with one promising raid down the right wing hinting at a try, only to be foiled by alert defending.

For a second successive time Saracens' scrum was driven backwards and the visitors' attack was becoming bolder and more accurate, but still without reward.

To show them how it was done, the six-time Premiership champions struck on their next visit to the 22, with a sublime pass by Alex Goode out of the tackle collected by Fergus Burke and Tobias Elliot finishing in the corner.

Saracens should have been over for a third try when Maro Itoje sent Juan Martin Gonzalez charging through a gap in midfield, but the move broke down when the Argentinian was penalised for not releasing under the posts.

Andy Onyeama-Christie came on for his first appearance since October having recovered from ankle surgery and the Scotland flank had to slot in at inside centre after Nick Tompkins departed for an HIA.

Quins were finally off the mark in the 60th minute when Waghorn finished an athletic break by Oscar Beard and the score brought fresh belief to their play.

Over went three successive penalties from Benton – the second a monster kick – and for the first time Harlequins were in front.

They finished with their tails up as Porter went over late on.

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See below for Saturday's scores and scorers!

Saturday, March 22:

Saracens 12-23 Harlequins

For Saracens:
Tries: McFarland, Elliott
Con: Lozowski

For Harlequins:
Tries: Waghorn, Porter
Cons: Benson 2
Pens: Benson 3

Teams

Saracens: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Tobias Elliott, 13 Alex Lozowski, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Rotimi Segun, 10 Fergus Burke, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Tom Willis, 7 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 6 Theo McFarland, 5 Hugh Tizard, 4 Maro Itoje (captain), 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Jamie George, 1 Eroni Mawi.
Replacements: 16 Theo Dan, 17 Phil Brantingham, 18 Alec Clarey, 19 Nick Isiekwe, 20 Andy Onyeama-Christie, 21 Nathan Michelow, 22 Gareth Simpson, 23 Alex Goode.

Harlequins: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Rodrigo Isgro, 13 Oscar Beard, 12 Ben Waghorn, 11 Nick David, 10 Jarrod Evans, 9 Will Porter, 8 Alex Dombrandt (captain), 7 Will Evans, 6 Jack Kenningham, 5 Stephan Lewies, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Titi Lamositele, 2 Jack Walker, 1 Wyn Jones.
Replacements: 16 Sam Riley, 17 Jordan Els, 18 Will Hobson, 19 Irne Herbst, 20 George Hammond, 21 Jake Murray, 22 Jamie Benson, 23 Tyrone Green.

Referee: Adam Leal
Assistant referees: Luke Pearce and John Meredith
TMO: Peter Allan

Bristol Bears 52-38 Exeter Chiefs

For Bristol Bears:
Tries: Bates 3, Williams 2, Janse van Rensburg, Randall, Luatua
Cons: Byrne 6

For Exeter Chiefs:
Tries: Moloney, Slade, Jenkins, Hodge, Yeandle, Rigg
Cons: Slade, Hodge 3

Teams:

Bristol Bears: 15 Rich Lane, 14 Jack Bates, 13 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 12 James Williams, 11 Kalaveti Ravouvou, 10 Harry Byrne, 9 Harry Randall, 8 Viliame Mata, 7 Fitz Harding (captain), 6 Santiago Grondona, 5 Joe Owen, 4 James Dun, 3 George Kloska, 2 Gabriel Oghre, 1. Jake Woolmore.
Replacements: 16 Harry Thacker, 17 Ellis Genge, 18. Max Lahiff, 19 Josh Caulfield, 20 Steven Luatua, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Benjamin Elizalde, 23 Siva Naulago.

Exeter Chiefs: 15 Dan John, 14 Paul Brown-Bampoe, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Will Rigg, 11 Josh Hodge, 10 Ben Coen, 9 Tom Cairns, 8 Greg Fisilau, 7 Richard Capstick, 6 Martin Moloney, 5 Christ Tshiunza, 4 Dafydd Jenkins (captain), 3 Jimmy Roots, 2 Max Norey 1 Will Goodrick-Clarke.
Replacements: 16 Jack Yeandle, 17 Scott Sio, 18 Josh Iosefa-Scott, 19 Lewis Pearson, 20 Kane James, 21 Niall Armstrong, 22 Harvey Skinner, 23 Ben Hammersley.

Referee: Karl Dickson
Assistant referees: Richard Gordon and Calum Howard
TMO: David Rose