Preview: Worcester Warriors (a) - Gallagher Premiership

• Date: Friday, September 4th
• Kick-off: 6pm
• Competition: Gallagher Premiership
• Where: Sixways
• Referee: Wayne Barnes (227th Premiership game). Assistant Referees: Sara Cox & Paul Dix. TMO: Geoff Warren. Citing Officer: Tony Diprose.
• Media coverage: BT Sport app and red button

Bristol Bears will be targeting a return to winning ways when Pat Lam’s men visit Sixways on Friday evening (6pm KO).

Lam makes thirteen changes for the side to face Worcester Warriors, as Ed Holmes and Siale Piutau remain from the team that played Sale in round 17. 

Bristol Bears team to face Worcester Warriors at Sixways Stadium on Friday, September 4^th (6pm KO):

15. Charles Piutau; 14. Luke Morahan, 13. Semi Radradra, 12. Siale Piutau, 11. Henry Purdy; 10. Callum Sheedy, 9. Harry Randall; 1. Max Lahiff, 2. Bryan Byrne, 3. Kyle Sinckler, 4. Ed Holmes, 5. Chris Vui, 6. Steven Luatua (c), 7. Dan Thomas, 8. Nathan Hughes.

System players: 16. Harry Thacker, 17. Jake Woolmore, 18. John Afoa, 19. Joe Joyce, 20. Ben Earl, 21. Andy Uren, 22. Ioan Lloyd, 23. Piers O’Conor.

Unavailable: Jake Armstrong (ankle), Sam Bedlow (shoulder), Toby Fricker (groin).

Worcester Warriors:

15. Melani Nanai, 14. Tom Howe, 13. Ollie Lawrence, 12. Francois Venter, 11. Noah Heward, 10. Duncan Weir, 9. Francois Hougaard; 1. Ethan Waller, 2. Niall Annett, 3. Nick Schonert, 4. Anton Bresler, 5. Graham Kitchener, 6. Ted Hill (C), 7. Matt Kvesic, 8. Cornell du Preez.

Replacements: 16. Isaac Miller, 17. Callum Black, 18. Richard Palframan, 19. Andrew Kitchener, 20. Matt Cox, 21. Gareth Simpson, 22. Billy Searle, 23. Ashley Beck.

Bristol Bears 13-10 Worcester Warriors | Sunday, February 23rd 2020 | Ashton Gate

Bristol Bears made it three Gallagher Premiership wins in a row for the first time since April 2007 with a hard-fought victory over Worcester Warriors at Ashton Gate.

Pat Lam’s men enjoyed an incredible 79% possession during the first half, but only had a Callum Sheedy penalty and Luke Morahan’s beautifully worked 36^th-minute try to show for their dominance.

Worcester hit back early in the second period through Nick David’s breakaway score, with Weir’s conversion and Scott van Breda’s long-range penalty levelling the scores on the hour mark.

Cornell du Preez and Andrew Kitchener saw yellow in succession, leaving Bristol to face 14 men for 20 minutes of the second half.

And Sheedy took full advantage of the visitors’ indiscipline with his second three-pointer of the afternoon, to edge Bristol to a sixth win of the season and fire them into third place.

Read the full report here. 

The devil is in the detail for Dan Thomas and the Bears as they prepare for a round 18 Gallagher Premiership against Worcester Warriors at Sixways on Friday evening (6pm KO, BT Sport app/red button).

Back-to-back defeats at the hands of Exeter Chiefs and Sale Sharks have seen the Bears slide one place to third in the table, and Thomas says getting the finer details right has been high on the agenda this week.

Subscribe to Bristol Bears TV by clicking here. 

Worcester Warriors only victory in the last ten rounds of Gallagher Premiership Rugby was 29-14 at home to Harlequins on 26 August, that victory ended a run of five straight defeats at Sixways in all tournaments.

Bristol Bears have lost their last two Gallagher Premiership Rugby encounters since beating Gloucester 33-24 at Kingsholm on 21 August, their first maximum point victory in Premiership Rugby since round one.

Bristol beat Worcester 13-10 at Ashton Gate in round 11 and have not achieved a Premiership Rugby season’s double over the Warriors since 2006/07 although they did repeat this in the RFU Championship in 2014-15.

Bristol have won just twice at Sixways in any competition, in Premiership Rugby in September 2006 and the RFU Championship in April 2015.

Bristol Bears: WLL
Worcester Warriors: LWL 

🥧#SALvBRI pic.twitter.com/yVq8fDivZO

— Bristol Bears (@BristolBears) August 29, 2020

Kyle Sinckler vs Nick Schonert

Heavyweight clash in the front row as England and British & Irish Lions prop Kyle Sinckler goes head to head with Worcester's Nick Schonert at Sixways.

Steven Luatua vs Ted Hill

A fascinating clash at blindside, where All Black Steven Luatua faces off with England hopeful Ted Hill in a battle of ball carrying and physicality. 

• Victory for the Bears would see them surpass last season's points total of 51 with four games left to play

• Bristol have won just twice at Sixways in any competition, in the Premiership in September 2006 & Championship in April 2015