Barbarians beat Bears in entertaining encounter

In this heatwave, let’s spare a thought for the brave soul within Bristol Bears mascot Briz on Thursday evening. It was a night when the flames greeting the players onto the pitch – usually a blast of heat felt as high as the top tier of the Lansdown Stand – barely felt any different to the air temperature.

It was always going to be an entertaining encounter with the visit of the Barbarians to BS3 and it was indeed as expexcted a flowing game of attacking rugby with more than a dozen tries, with the score finishing 26-52 to the touring side.

There was a serious message behind this friendly encounter though, with the match held in partnership with mental health charity Loose Headz, committed to having a mental health lead in every rugby club in the world.

Playing the day before the start of the World Cup kicks off meant that Bristol’s internationals were on the other side of the Channel rather than here, with the Baa Baas lineup also short of its usual global superstars.

But it mattered not as the Ashton Gate crowd enjoyed having the spectacle of the world’s most famous club rugby side in town, and were also treated to hat-tricks from Bristol’s Harry Thacker and the Baa Baas’ Japanese wing Taishi Takahashi, who ended up scoring four.

There was even a signature bit of silliness from the Baa Baas with the last play of the game featuring not one but two dummy kickers and even a mock defensive wall. The kick almost made it over the posts.

If it was not fun enough on the pitch, a ‘wave cam’ and a ‘cheers cam’ enlivened proceedings in the crowd.

And the bass on Ashton Gate Stadium’s speakers was tested at half-time with Brown Paper Bag by Bristol’s Mercury Prize-winning Roni Size among the choice of music – incidentally as this year’s Mercury Prize ceremony was getting underway in London.

Playing in their instantly recognisable black and white hoops, the Barbarians scored their first try after just three minutes courtesy of Takahashi, with Takahashi just a few minutes later providing the perfect grubber kick for Australian number 8 Harry Wilson to run onto and touch down.

Wilson scored his second in the first half and Takahashi scored his hat-trick before half-time, just evading the clutches of Gabriel Ibitoye.

There was no surprise when it was Thacker emerging three times from underneath a pile of bodies to score his own hat-trick. Among a number of departures over the summer, the re-signing of the 29-year-old hooker was very good news indeed for the Bristol faithful.

Bristol’s other Harry, Harry Randall, also got his name on the scoresheet in the first half after just stretching for the line – but it was in no small part down to a superb break from James Williams who sprinted ball-in-hand more than half the length of the Ashton Gate pitch before giving the diminuitive scrum-half a short dash to the line.

James Williams was one of Bristol’s stand-out performers – photo: JMP

The second half did not quite hit the heights of the first 40 minutes, with Thacker’s try the only Bristol score.

At the other end, Thacker’s opposite number, Australian Lachlan Lonergan, scored for the visitors, who lifted the Loose Headz Cup before posing for team photos in BS3.

Main photo: JMP

Read next:

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• Bristol announced as host city for Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025
• Ashton Gate to host England vs Wales in Women’s Six Nations

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