Bristol Bears suffered a humbling 47-24 defeat to Wasps at the Ricoh Arena in the Gallagher Premiership semi-final.
Ill-discipline and a slow start cost the visitors as tries from Luke Morahan, Harry Thacker, Harry Randall and Max Malins were not enough to compete with a relentless home side.
Three second half tries in six minutes from Dan Robson, Zack Kibirige and Matteo Minnozzi added to first half touch downs from Malakai Fekitoa and Jack Willis to take Wasps to the final.
22 points from the boot of veteran kiwi fly-half Jimmy Gopperth punished the Bears and ended their attempts to complete a European and domestic double.
The hosts came out the blocks quickest with a big Kieran Brookes hit on Piers O’Conor forcing a turnover which saw Wasps go deep into the Bears' 22. Off the resulting lineout drive, Wasps scrum half Dan Robson arched off the back of the pack to chip through to the vacant space under the posted which Fekitoa pounced on with eight minutes gone.
However, Wasps were handed a blow as Fekitoa appeared to pick up a groin injury which saw him leave the field.
The Bears were up against it as they began to get penalised for a neck roll and a scrum penalty which gifted Gopperth and Wasps a 13-point lead after the first quarter of the match.
Pat Lam’s side finally got themselves in Wasps 22 as Ben Earl held up Brad Shields for a maul to force a Bears scrum. The visitors then forced another penalty which saw ex-Wasps man Nathan Hughes tap and go and put his side on the front foot. He offloaded to Uren who gave a wonderfully weighted looping pass to Morahan who ran in unopposed for Bears first score.
Callum Sheedy was unable to add the extras, but Bristol had their tails up. Uren immediately made a break from the kick-off but was unable to find Morahan with the offload.
Bur Wasps kept taking their chances as they forced another scrum penalty which saw Gopperth keep the score ticking over.
The Bears' errors continued to be punished as Thomas Young broke from deep after sweeping up a loose ball and broke into Bristol’s 22 on 34 minutes. The ball was given to Willis who was brought down short but drove over a couple phases later with a quick pick to make it 23-5 at half time.
With Lam’s stern words still present in the Bears’ players minds, the visitors came out with intent. Semi Radradra, who had been starved of ball, hit a great line off Sheedy and broke deep into the Wasps 22. The ball reached the hands of Sheedy again who dummied and glided through looking like he was about to start a comeback for Bears but was hit and flipped in a miracle tackle by Willis to hold up the Welshman.
However, Wasps gave away three penalties at the scrum on the five-metre line which saw Bristol head to the corner. Thacker fired a clean arrow which saw the Bristol pack march towards the line with the hooker controlling the ball at the back and then diving over to make it 23-12 and give the Bears hope.
Yet more errors cost Bears again as Gopperth added another three more points on 53 minutes.
Wasps then added the killer sting as they scored three tries in six minutes to send them to Twickenham in two weeks’ time. The first a controversial tap and go by Dan Robson from five metres out as referee Matthew Carley appeared to still be explaining the awarding of the penalty.
The second was the result of a loose Siale Piuatu pass to Max Malins which saw Kibirige race away from anyone else. The final blow was a fabulous move starting with a chip over the top from replacement scrum half Ben Vellacott to Josh Bassett who gave a two on one pass to Matteo Minnozzi who finished well in the corner.
Unfortunately, it was too late as Bristol gave a glimpse of what has made them a delight to watch this season. Randall scored after some great quick hands from first Malins, who burst through a tackle, and then Ben Earl to give Piers O’Conor a simple two on one pass to replacement Randall.
The Bears would then get one more consolation try as replacement Sam Bedlow gave a fantastic out the back of the hand offload to Malins who chipped and chased past Matteo Minnozi to score but it was all too little too late as a disappointing 47-24 defeat ended what has been a great Gallagher Premiership campaign for Pat Lam’s men.
Bristol Bears: 15. Max Malins; 14. Luke Morahan, 13. Semi Radradra, 12. Siale Piutau, 11. Piers O’Conor; 10. Callum Sheedy, 9. Andy Uren; 1. Jake Woolmore, 2. Harry Thacker, 3. John Afoa, 4. Joe Joyce, 5. Chris Vui, 6. Steve Luatua(c), 7. Ben Earl, 8. Nathan Hughes.
Replacements: 16. George Kloska, 17. Yann Thomas, 18. Kyle Sinckler, 19. Ed Holmes, 20. Dan Thomas, 21. Harry Randall, 22. Sam Bedlow, 23. Alapati Leiua.
Wasps Rugby: 15 Matteo Minozzi, 14 Zach Kibirige, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Jimmy Gopperth, 11 Josh Bassett, 10 Jacob Umaga, 9 Dan Robson; 1 Simon McIntyre, 2 Tommy Taylor, 3 Kieran Brookes, 4 Joe Launchbury ©, 5 Will Rowlands, 6 Jack Willis, 7 Thomas Young, 8 Brad Shields.
Replacements: 16 Gabriel Oghre, 17 Tom West, 18 Biyi Alo, 19 James Gaskell, 20 Alfie Barbeary, 21 Tom Willis, 22 Ben Vellacott, 23 Michael Le Bourgeois.
