As the Heineken Champions Cup Round of 16 approaches, we detail each side’s path to the knockout stage, selecting key moments, players and stats.

We continue our look into the 16 teams with an overview of Bristol Bears…

Path to the Round of 16

Because of the pandemic, which brought them a 28-0 home win over Scarlets and a 0-0 draw at Stade Français Paris, Bristol had to wait until Round 3 to play their first game, when they beat the Parisian club 28-17 at Ashton Gate.

The Bears then strolled to a 52-21 victory at Scarlets in Round 4 to finish fourth in Pool B.

Key moment

Piers O’Conor’s second try in the home victory over Stade Français Paris, as it was Bristol’s fourth of the game and so gave them a bonus point, which in turn sealed their place in the last 16.

Key player

As well as notching two tries against Stade Français, O’Conor also touched down against Scarlets to climb into joint fifth in the try-scorers’ list. The centre, the only Bear to appear in the top 10 of any category after the pool stage, was joint sixth in the offloads chart with five too.

Key stats

  • Semi Radradra carried 17 times in the victory over Stade Français, the joint second highest of Round 3.
  • Callum Sheedy notched 15 points against Scarlets via a try and five conversions to share second place in Round 4’s top scorers.
  • Fitz Harding ran 164 metres against the Welsh region to top that chart in the round.
  • O’Conor made four offloads in Round 4 to share second spot in that category.

Round of 16 opponents

Bristol meet Gallagher Premiership rivals Sale Sharks in the last 16, visiting the AJ Bell Stadium first on April 9 in a tie televised by Channel 4, Virgin Media, BT Sport and beIN SPORTS. They then host the Sharks on April 15, with BT Sport and beIN SPORTS broadcasting the second leg live.