In lovely weather conditions Bristol were soon on the scoreboard.  Leeds knocked on the kick off and Bristol swept into the attack.   The ball went wide to the left wing with a pretty aimless pass that was acrobatically picked up by Darren Crompton who emulated a bowling ball as he rolled along.  The ball went back to the other side of the field and Jason Strange broke through looking for support.  It came in the form of Neil Brew who went over without a hand laid on him.  Strange added the conversion for a 7 – 0 lead with just three minutes gone.  Leeds were quickly able to narrow the gap when di Bernardo landed a huge penalty: 7 – 3.

Bristol continued in positive vein and David Lemi made a Leeds prop look even larger and more lumbering than he actually was with a typically nimble run.  Sadly the rather more lithe figure of Biggs was on hand to defend Lemi’s chip kick.  Leeds were forced to make two changes when Welding and the scrum half, Bedford, were injured with only 15 minutes gone.  Bristol tried to take advantage and Strange was able to add two penalty kicks; the first after a couple of half breaks from the backs and the second following a mighty-thewed run from Alfie To’oala.

13 – 3 with just over half an hour played.  Leeds had their chances to reduce the deficit but di Bernardo was off target with two penalty attempts.  The second, in particular, looked a real opportunity, but he was well off target and Bristol escaped to go in at half time with a deserved though somewhat flattering lead.

It was Leeds who started the second half better.  The defence was secure but unable to prevent the ball getting back to di Bernardo who made no mistake with a fine long-range drop goal and it was 13 – 6 with just a few minutes of the half gone.  Bristol hit back and, awarded a kickable penalty, boldly chose to kick for the corner.  The lineout had certainly been more effective,

although the one throw I had a clear view of was far from straight but went unpenalised.   The catch and drive went in and it was clear, even from the opposite end of the ground, that the maul was pulled down. Unusually the referee went straight to the yellow card and the Leeds captain, Hooper, had to take the walk of shame.  Bristol again went for touch and this time Andrew Blowers, on as a replacement for Dan Ward-Smith, crossed for a try by the posts. The simple conversion from Strange set the new club record for league points: 20 – 6 after 53 minutes.

Strange soon set Brew free again for his second try of the afternoon, following neat lineout work and some powerful midfield running. Strange converted to extend his record and Bristol’s score to 27 – 6.  Although Leeds were back to full strength Bristol were able to secure their first try-scoring bonus point this season.  Leeds were turned over in midfield and the ball shipped out to David Hill who made good ground and pulled the defence out of alignment.  He offloaded out of the tackle to Lemi who danced down the touchline to score in the left corner despite some weak tackling.  Strange was surprisingly wide with the conversion attempt but it was still 32 – 6.  Leeds were able to make a fortuitous reply when, as Bristol looked to have numbers out wide, Biggs intercepted a floated pass from Lemi.  He just bout had the pass to cross under the posts from 70 metres hotly pursued by Tom Arscott (who looked for an instant as if he might have got the tackle in if Rob Higgitt hadn’t been in the way!).  Di Bernardo converted to bring up a score of 32 – 13 with just ten minutes left.

Bristol’s reply was rapid, the ball run into the heart of the Leeds defence and then popped up to Lemi who went in again in the corner.  It was a chance for Hill, with Strange off the field, to make the conversion which he did in typically scruffy, but effective, style (although his kicking from hand was very  good throughout): 39 - 13.  There was still time available for Bristol to score more points with Arscott

having a couple of good darts and replacement Lee Robinson also putting in some characteristically powerful runs and showing the doubters that he is capable of catching a kick ahead.  Unfortunately none of these came to fruition and the game ended without any further score.