ALL GOLDS CONCLUDE SEASON WITH BIG WIN
Christopher Wilson at Lockleaze Sports Centre
BRISTOL ALL GOLDS 58 – 16 WESTS WARRIORS
The Bristol All Golds ended their season with a thrashing of a below strength Wests Warriors side at Lockleaze. The All Golds ran in 11 tries with Brandon Lamb and Leon Atherton scoring hat-tricks, Liam McGrath and Lewis Harris collecting doubles, and David Weetman adding the eleventh. Alex Onyeahasi booted seven goals in the Bristolians’ best win of the season.
The first half was well-contested with the lead changing hands several times, before the All Golds scored six unanswered tries in the second period to conclude the season with a bang.
The match started ominously for the home side as the Warriors, despite having several players backing up from a game against Hammersmith in midweek, struck in the second minute with Tamati Gribble easily finding a hole in the defence to touch down.
The All Golds quickly replied as Atherton leapt to catch and touch down Jay Woodley’s excellent kick to the corner. Woodley was unable to convert but the Warriors were soon back in front.
Ajibola Oki’s break was halted right on the tryline and Dylan Leney nipped over from dummy half, Bailey Simpson adding the goal.
Again, parity was quickly restored. Jacob Purcell combined well with Harris and after the move seemed to have broken down, Tega Rume-Tabiowo sent Lamb over for his first try of the day.
Onyeahasi added the goal to level the scores at 10-10.
The All Golds then had a repeat set to apply some pressure but it came to nothing. However, they were next to score with two tries in a six-minute spell around the half hour mark.
First a fine piece of play on the last tackle by Weetman saw McGrath sidestep his way over by the posts and then Adam Turner provided a short pass on the line for Lamb to go over untouched. Onyeahasi added both goals to ease the All Golds out to a 22-10 lead.
There were a few jitters a few minutes later when Mark McGee scored a soft try from close range, improved by Simpson to cut the home side’s lead to a single score, but just before the break, Atherton got his second try after an audacious tunnel-ball pass from Lamb had sent him into a big gap in the defensive line.
Onyeahasi missed the goal but the All Golds held a thoroughly deserved 26-16 lead at the half-time break.
The Warriors came out fired up for the second period and knocked the home side off their stride for the first ten minutes of the half, despite not creating much in the way of scoring opportunities.
The All Golds then struck with three tries in six devastating minutes to take the game away from the visitors.
Lamb engineered the first with a fine break downfield before supplying the scoring pass to McGrath, who raced in from 30 metres out.
Then Harris broke a tackle before shrugging off another defender to run in, before Lamb finished superbly, running a great line from 20 metres out to score. Onyeahasi’s two goals pushed the score to 42-16 and from there the result was never in doubt.
The Warriors continued to make simple handling areas when in possession and the All Golds made them pay with three more tries in the final quarter.
Turner engineered the first two, taking the short side before sending Harris over with a lovely reverse pass and then breaking from dummy half on halfway to send Weetman over for an easy try from a classic two-on-one with the full-back.
Onyeahasi added the goal to the latter try to take the score to 52-16.
There was time enough for Atherton to complete the scoring breaking tackle after tackle on a mazy run to the posts, Onyeahasi adding the easy two to seal an excellent win, the All Golds’ first ever over Wests and the first time they had scored 50 points ina game since the penultimate round of the 2025 competition, when they beat Eastern Rhinos 52-26 in Colchester.
With Brentwood having withdrawn from the competition, the All Golds’ fixture against them, scheduled for 22 August, will not be played and the curtain has come down on what can be assessed as a successful season for the club.
The Junior sides have all made good progress, with the U16s becoming the first English side to contest a Welsh Grand Final when they played Torfaen Tigers last month.
The Golden Ferns have also had a successful campaign, winning three of their four matches including an excellent 54-12 win over the Army in the Southern Championship Final.
MatchStats
ALL GOLDS: Joe Capener; Alex Onyeahasi, Lewis Harris, Leon Atherton, Liam McGrath; Jack Uren (Capt), Jay Woodley; Jacob Purcell, Adam Turner, Rob Davies; Jamie Jenkins, Brandon Lamb; Tega Rume-Tabiowo. INTERCHANGE: Joe Macklin, Sam Gilder, Morgan Lewis, David Weetman.
Scorers:
Tries: Atherton (5, 38, 72), Lamb (18, 32, 55), McGrath (26, 49), Harris (52, 62), Weetman (65)
Goals: Woodley 0 from 1, Onyeahasi 7 from 10.
WARRIORS: Ajibola Oki; Leighton Ball, Tamati Gribble, Jahlem Small, Callum Cabielles; Bailey Simpson, Dylan Leney; Mark McGee, Nick Riley, Ben Yerby; Khe-San Theodore, Kit Desmond-Webb; Joel Holmes. INTERCHANGE: Terence Sharples, Dan Kemp, Toby Ashton.
Scorers:
Tries: Gribble (1), Leney (10), McGee (36)
Goals: Simpson 2 from 3.
Scoring Sequence: 0-4, 4-4, 4-10, 10-10, 16-10, 22-10, 22-16, 26-16, (HT), 30-16, 36-16, 42-16, 46-16, 52-16, 58-16, (FT)
Referee: Kristoff Young (RFL)
Penalties: All Golds 5-7 Warriors
Thatchers Cider All Golds Player of the Match was Leon Atherton, whose carries caused the Warriors defence no end of problems and he took his three tries very well.