The match was in its infancy when Bristol stunned the visitors with a well worked try from Andrew Blowers capitalising on good work from the back three.  Debutant Adrian Jarvis made no mistake with his conversion and Bristol led 7 - 0 with just a couple of minutes played.  The B**h players certainly looked dismayed but Bristol were unable to strike while the iron was hot.  Gradually B**h were able work their way out of the pressure Bristol had imposed and James was able to punish Bristol with a good penalty kick to narrow the gap to 7 - 3.

B**h stepped up a gear and Bristol's set-piece performance was not as secure as might be wished.  Maddock made an excellent run when Abendanon fielded a wayward Bristol clearance and he sliced through a poorly organised defence to score.  James duly converted and B**h led 7 - 10.  Jarvis brought it back to 10-all with a penalty kick.  However, the defence was again pierced when the hulking Banahan lumbered into space and freed Cheeseman to lope over for a converted try and a 10 - 17 lead. 

If the first Bristol try had stunned B**h then the second amazed everyone in the ground.  Claasens hoofed the ball downfield and David Lemi sprinted back into the Bristol half to take the ball.  He gathered it and ducked under a clumsy challenge from Fa'amatuainu.  He them sped away on a mazy run that left a host of embarrased defenders trailing in his wake.  For a moment it looked as if the defence would close him down but he chipped over the head of Abendanon ,gathered the ball and just about got over the line as James attempted a last ditch tackle.  Even as we witnessed this amazing piece of individual skill and opportunism people were marking this down as try of the season!    Jarvis made the conversion and it was 17 - 17 at half time.

Bristol failed to step up to the mark set by Lemi and gave away cheap points as James kicked two penalties in quick succession that eased the visitors into a 17 - 23 lead early in the second half.  Jarvis briefly narrowed the gap with an effort of his own before an utterly stupid lack of discipline promptly restored the margin to 20 - 26.  Bristol were still struggling in the set piece with the familiar lineout problems of last season still, to an extent, present but with an ominous new frailty at the scrum.  This kept Bristol under pressure as the half-backs struggled to deal with some poor quality ball. 

B**h were able to take clinical advantage with a try that suffered only in comparison with Lemi's earlier effort.  Tom Arscott's clearance kick bounced cruelly into the grateful hands of Abendanon, and he set in motion a sweeping move that featured fingertip offloading (and a strong hint of a forward pass!) before Fa'amatuainu was able to arc in from outside the 22 vainly persued by despairing defenders.  James converted and B**h had a comanding 20 - 33 lead.  Bristol struggled to find a way back into the match.  For an instant it appeared that Lemi, again, would be the one to bring Bristol back into contention but Maddock bundled him into touch agonisingly close to the try line.  B**h held on for victory, indeed, only stalwart defence prevented them from gaining a bonus point try.

Disappointing though a defeat by our neighbours is, I must admit to being encouraged by aspects of Bristol's performance.  The displays of angst on the message board do not seem entirely justified.  B**h actually played rather well.  We did, it is true, struggle in some facets of the game.  The lineout, whilst not as flaky as last season did have a few problems.  Linklater's throwing was, from the two lineouts I could see acurately, absolutely dead straight down the middle.  Perhaps this is the problem?  The new issue in the scrum is more worrying and caused our half-backs a number of problems.  Our defensive organisation left much to be desired, particularly in the first half.  The unfamiliar centre pairing surely had much to do with this.  I did think that one of replacement Barden's tackles was outstanding.  Other positives include our first try which I am certain we would have butchered last season ( and it was nice to see Blowers being permitted to touch the ball down i such circumstances), the performance of Jarvis despite the quality of ball he received and of course David Lemi.  I hope we can build on the good points and rectify the errors and go for an away win at 'Quins.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon

Related Articles:

• B**h Edge Poor Game

SPORTNETWORK SPECIALS