Steven Luatua says win over Sale Sharks 'answered some' of the question marks about Bristol Bears' defence

Bristol’s Steven Luatua said the Bears “answered some” of the question marks around their defence with victory over Sale Sharks in Gallagher Premiership Rugby on Friday night.

Pat Lam’s side hadn’t beaten the Sharks in five previous attempts dating back to April 2022 but hit the front early at the Salford Community Stadium and never relinquished their lead.

Converted tries from Harry Randall and Gabriel Ibitoye put the visitors 14-0 ahead after 18 minutes, and although Sale had chances to score, the Bears held firm to pick up a much-needed victory that keeps their top-four hopes alive.

“It's huge for us, as a team and as a club we definitely needed that, to get the monkey off our back,” Luatua said on TNT Sports.

“Knowing how difficult this team is and how good they are, in terms of our season going forward, we needed the win tonight.

“I feel like we did that as a team, we fronted up today. Some question marks have been made [about our defence], maybe just within the team itself but I think we answered some of them, but definitely not all of them.”

Bristol are renowned as one of the most entertaining teams to watch in the Premiership but had managed just four wins from 10 prior to their trip to Manchester.

They’ve started plenty of games brightly this season before fading late on, but Luatua hailed what he described as the “best defensive performance” of the campaign.

The result kept Bristol eighth but reduced their deficit to the top four in what is a hugely congested table.

“With the way the log is at the moment, every point counts,” Player of the Match Janse van Rensburg added.

“Really big win for us today. I think this is the first time that Sale lost at home this season as well, so it's a big week for us.

“We were disappointed with the loss against Exeter last week at home, so we made it a challenge to try and beat Sale up here so very proud of the boys for the fight they put out there today.”

Bristol return to Investec Champions Cup action next week as they welcome the Bulls in their penultimate group match of Pool A.

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