After the disappointment of our lacklustre farewell to the Memorial Stadium, which I couldn't bring myself to write about, I approached this match with the feeling that Saracens should win easily.  It was, after all Richard Hill's (the flanker, not the Bristol coach) final match and it was to take place in the unusual surroundings (and unusual name) of Stadium:mk.

I was pleasantly surprised at the stadium.  The pitch is essentially built below the outside ground level so that you enter above the seating area on a wide concourse that surrounds the arena.  This concourse is quite similar to that at the Madejski Stadium, though rather better because it receives natural light.  There are plenty of lavatories, although the shiny black urinals do bear an uncomfortable resemblance to Darth Vader.  The seats were well spaced, comfortable and gave most people (but not me) plenty of leg room and, more importantly, excellent sight lines.  The capacity of this lower tier (the upper is incomplete) is said to be 22,000 and is thus broadly comparable in size to the proposed new Memorial Gound.  If the arrangements are anything like as good (which I doubt) we won't be too badly off; unless, like me you would prefer to stand.  The crowd, however, was a disappointing one of just over 8,000.  Despite this the atmosphere was actually quite good with the visiting supporters making their presence felt.  The drums were typically irritating and I wonder if it is possible to sue both them and the idiot with the air-horn behind me because of the damage to my hearing?  Speaking of legal action, I think the heavy handed action of the stewards in assaulting one costumed supporter who attempted to run on the pitch after the game was totally unacceptable and unnecessary.  They didn't even manage to catch the guy in the wedding dress!

As to the game itself, Saracens dominated the early exchanges with Goode putting the ball over the far from straight posts for a 3 - 0 lead.  They were soon on the attack again and the Bristol defence was frail and poorly organised.  It gave Saracens a huge overlap out on the right and Haughton loped over with the unfortunate Luke Arscott unable to cover all of the three or four attackers who faced him.  Haughton had the wit to touch down near the posts (though careful not to touch them in case they fell over).  Goode converted for a 10 - 0 lead with just over 10 minutes played.  Things looked ominous for Bristol.  They tried to breakout through midfield by way of a powerful break from Luke Eves which led to a penalty that Ed Barnes struck well inside the other set of wonky posts to narrow the gap to 10 - 3.

Almost immediately the hosts carved out another opening for Haughton who set Cato free to go in at the corner for an unconverted try and a 15 -3 lead.  Two real attacks and two tries.  However, it was Bristol who contrived the next score, and what a score it was.  The ball was passed out to David Lemi who took on the opposition with typical aggressive but elusive running.  He swept around his opposite number and outpaced the defence for an instant before finally being hauled down short of the line.  The tackle was unavailing because Lemi had slipped the ball out to the supporting Eves for an exciting opening try.  His father, Derek, scored three in a game once, but this is a good start.  Barnes nailed the tricky conversion and Bristol were right back in it at 15 - 10.  Bristol's collective tails was up and put Saracens under pressure but were unable to make it count.  Eventually Saracens conceded a penalty that Barnes kicked to take the score to 15 -13 just before half time.  It was scant reward for some good rugby.  Although Bristol had looked fragile for the first 15 minutes or so, they had come back well and were, if anything getting the better of the encounter.

Bristol started the second half in similar vein to where they had left off.  Haydn Thomas made a quick break down he left wing before being tackled into touch with the support not on his wavelength.  Soon they were to take the lead when Eves cut a great angle onto a lovely pass from Barnes.  He sped towards the line as the defence closed in on but had the pace and strength to reach over and dab the ball down despite the two defenders clinging to him.  The Bristol support rose to their feet to applaud his effort.  Barnes made the conversion and Bristol deservedly led 15 - 20.  Saracens attempted to come back but de Kock made a clumsy knock-on, much to the visiting support's amusement, as he tried a tap penalty.  Bristol took advantage of the escape to launch a series of attacks that saw Neil Brew, Larscott and Anthony Elliot prominent.  Unfortunately a combination of desperate defence and ill luck combined to prevent Bristol making the crucial breakthrough.

Saracens remained determined and forced a penalty that closed the gap to 18 - 20 with 10 minutes left.  Bristol looked relatively comfortable at this point but a critical error handed the initiative back to Saracens.  A penalty was awarded to Bristol and Barnes showed his inexperience at this level by attempting to really turn the screw on Saracens by sending his kick down into the corner rather than play the percentages and take a more conservative option.  Sadly he kicked the ball dead to hand Saracens an attacking scrum back downfield.  His was not the only poor Bristol kick of the afternoon with several kicks from other players being sliced or failing to make touch.  It has been a familiar problem this season, but one that should respond to both coaching and a recovery in confidence.

Bristol appeared to have weathered this final storm when they were awarded a scrum in their 22 that brought a halt to a dangerous move.  However the ball came back on the Saracens side with replacement scrum half Graeme Beveridge raising his hands in protest.  Subsequently he said that the ball was taken from his hands, but clearly the officials saw nothing.  Saracens got the ball quickly out wide and the dangerous Ratuvou touched down despite Elliott's desperate efforts.  Goode took his time over the conversion and the referee blew for full time as Saracens won 25 - 20.  Actually there should have been a further 9 seconds of play given that the try was given with one minute 9 seconds on the clock, but it is hard to believe Bristol would have been able to score in that time!

A disappointing end to a match that Bristol did enough to win, but the performance of several of the younger players and some of the older stagers (Darren Crompton for one) indicate that Bristol may well be better than the relegation candidates so many have us marked down.  Surely Newcastle will struggle even more next season, and it will be interesting to see if Quins, should they qualify for the Heineken Cup, have the resources to compete on so many fronts.  Bring on Newport and a new season for Bristol.

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