Super Bears smash four for perfect 10 out of 10

By STEWART MCCULLOUGH

Bristol Bears …26pts

Tries: Wills 12, Reed 24, Burns 52, Botterman 75

Conversions: Reed 12, 52, 75

Harlequins ……… 7pts

Tries: Sims 61

Conversions: Tuima 61

BRISTOL Bears made it two out of two for the new year as they eased to a bonus-point victory over Harlequins at Shaftesbury Park.

Tries from Deborah Wills, Amber Reed, Delaney Burns and Hannah Botterman kept Bears' play-off aspirations on track as the Premiership campaign gathers pace.

“It's great that we've got 10 points out of 10 in 2024, which is a great foundation for our game against Exeter in a couple of weeks,” said Bristol head coach Dave Ward.

“Similar to last week, I felt that we left more tries out there on the pitch. That said, we are creating opportunities and that's a huge positive for us.

“Today is a huge step in the right direction and I'm really pleased that our fans got to see us score four fantastic tries.”

Bears got off the mark 12 minutes into the contest when a sweeping backline move unleashed winger Wills to the corner, with the former GB Sevens star scoring her second try in as many weeks.

Amber Reed navigated the gusty conditions to convert from the touchline.

Bristol extended their advantage on 24 minutes through Reed when she raced onto Meryl Smith's neat offload out of the tackle to dot down.

Reed was the catalyst for the try with a lung-busting 30-metre carry into Quins' 22, before taking the return pass to dive over in style.

Leading 12-0 at the break, Bears came out for the second period all guns blazing and on 52 minutes Burns registered the host's third try.

The Red Roses second row crashed over from close range following strong carries from Abbie Ward and Lark Atkin-Davies. Reed kicked her second conversion to increase Bears' lead to 19-0.

Harlequins hit back on the hour courtesy of former Bears prop Hannah Sims, who burrowed over following a period of sustained pressure. Lagi Tuima slotted home the conversion to reduce the deficit to 19-7.

With the Londoners throwing caution to the wind, Bears capitalised on a series of handling errors to venture into Quins' 22, and with five minutes remaining, England prop Botterman muscled her way to the line with Reed again adding the extras.