Number Crunch: Shark Week

• Bristol Bears have lost their last four Gallagher Premiership Rugby fixtures since beating Worcester at Ashton Gate in early November, they have however picked up a losing bonus point in their last two matches. The Bears have been defeated in their last two home games in Premiership Rugby and have not lost three in succession in the tournament at Ashton Gate since they were relegated in season 2016/17.

• Sale Sharks have won just three games in Gallagher Premiership Rugby since the end of September, all at home against Harlequins, Northampton, and Wasps. The Sharks have not won away from home in Premiership Rugby since their trip to Bath in Round 19 last season.

• Sale have lost just one of their last six encounters with Bristol: 10-16 at Ashton Gate in November 2019

THE NUMBERS

• Sale Sharks have won nine of their last 12 games against Bristol Bears in the Premiership (D1 L2), scoring 20 points or more in 10 of those matches.
• Sale Sharks have won 54% of their games away to Bristol Bears (W7 D1 L5), their highest win rate against any team they have visited 7+ times in the Premiership.
• Bristol Bears have lost their last four games in the Premiership but haven’t endured a longer losing sequence in the competition since March – May 2017 when they lost six in a row.
• Sale Sharks are winless in their last seven away games in the Premiership (D1 L6, excl. cancelled fixtures), but haven’t had a longer run of away games without a win in the league since November 2016 – November 2017 (L11).
• Bristol Bears have recorded an average carry distance of 6.84 metres per carry, the best rate in the Premiership this season; Sale Sharks, on the other hand, have the lowest rate in that category (5.5).

• Bristol Bears and Sale Sharks have made the most dominant tackles in the Premiership this season, with the Bears tallying 90 and Sharks 85 – no other team has made 80+ dominant tackles in the league in 2021/22.
• Bristol Bears have averaged 12.0 offloads per game in the Premiership this season, the most of any team – in fact, no other side has made more than 8.3 per match (Wasps) in the league in 2021/22.
• Sale Sharks have averaged 56.2% territory in the Premiership in 2021/22, the highest of any team, while only Harlequins (11.3) have averaged more 22 entries per game than the Sharks this season (11.1).
• Semi Radradra is the only player to have tallied 10+ carries in each of Bristol Bears last three games, since his return to Premiership action; he has also recorded the most carry metres of any Bears player in that span (260).
• Sale Sharks’ Jono Ross has made 10 dominant tackles in the Premiership this season, the most of any player; Ross missed three tackles in his most recent game, as many as he had missed in his previous nine appearances in the league in 2021/22.