Bristol lose out to speedy Cohen

Ben Cohen returned to his natural habitat just in time to settle a scrappy contest at the Memorial Stadium yesterday and offer a reminder of his lofty status among England's growing stock of top-class wings. Against Newcastle eight days earlier, Cohen had started at outside centre and Northampton coach Wayne Smith continued with the experiment to find room for Jon Sleightholme and Oriol Ripol. But Cohen moved out wide in a second-half reshuffle and made his mark in style.

With six minutes left, Saints were clinging to a one-point advantage in the teeth of a ferocious Bristol assault. But Felipe Contepomi, the hosts' stand off, threw a wild pass under pressure that bounced off Phil Christophers and fell invitingly to Tom Smith. He transferred the ball to Cohen, who accelerated into the opposition half and surged away from Martin Shaw to score. 'It was a sensational try and great to see him open up,' said coach Smith.

'He played very well defensively and was very strong and hard to handle.' In a match lacking real fluency, Bristol gained the upper hand early on when scrum half Agustin Pichot created space for fellow Argentinian Contepomi to sneak over.

Home skipper Garath Archer was then driven over from a close-range line-out. But Paul Grayson kept Saints in touch with four penalties and they moved ahead when his innocuous low kick into the 22 bounced back over Brendon Daniel's head and John Leslie gathered to run in unopposed. After the break, Budge Pountney touched down, but Bristol hit back when Daniel beat Ripol to the corner. Another Contepomi penalty cut the deficit to one point, but Cohen turned the tide.