By David Hibell
November 5 2003

Danny Gray had a faultless day with the boot kicking Bristol to victory with a conversion, four penalties and an inspired drop goal. picture courtesy & copyright official site.

Orrell went on the attack straight from the kick off and were awarded a penalty, a bit of back chat and the ref awarded an extra ten yards to take the penalty inside the twenty two.  There was only one result and Matt Jones made no mistake to make it 3-0.

Bristol opted to switch direction for the restart and were awarded with a scrum as Orrell knocked on on their twenty two, the referee awarded Bristol a free kick from the scrum and Bristol looked to run the ball into the twenty two.  Play was stopped when Bristol knocked on but the Orrell defence had not retreated 10 yards, Bristol looked to run again but were shepherded into touch.  Orrell opted for a short line out and made a break up the left wing, from the resulting maul Craig Hill was judged to be offside and Jones had a chance to make it 6-0 but pulled the kick to the left.

Orrell drove up the middle from the restart but Bristol managed to win turn over ball & chipped ahead for Griff to chase, the ball went too far though and Orrell were able to clear their lines.  Orrell managed to steal Bristols line out and fed the ball out to the backs, Sam Cox put in a bone crunching tackle on his opposite number that would have led to more turn over ball but the referee had been playing advantage for a Bristol knock on a the line out.

Bristols first meaningful attack of the game came from a line out 15 yards out after a penalty, Hunt caught the ball, Hill drove on but the ball Bristol were held up.  The play was called back for a high tackle on Hill, again Bristol opted for a line out, again the ball was driven on but Orrell managed to stop the rolling maul and were awarded the scrum.  This time Bristol were penalised in the scrum and Orrell had the chance to clear, they were able to make more ground as Bristol were penalised for having too many in the line out and Orrell were able to clear the ball into Bristols half.

From the resulting line out Orrell looked to attack down the right flank but were marshalled into touch.  Orrell were then penalised and Bristol were bale to take play back upto half way.  The game had had a few niggling moments and a fight broke out now that resulted in Bristol being penalised for punching.  Orrell opted to kick for touch and had a line out on the 22 but knocked on, Bristol were able to counter and drove on into the Orrell 22 but the Orrell defence held firm and were able to punt the ball to safety, it was kicked back and the Scott Barrow at full back for Orrell shaped to kick long again.  Spying a gap he started a sweeping move upfield ending in a try for the impressive Rob Penney at 13.  Jones was able to convert and Bristol faced a ten point gap.

Bristol were penalised again from the restart for offside though the ball appeared to most onlookers to have been out and Orrell were able to take play up to the half way line.  Richard Hunt won the shortened line out but the ball rolled into touch from his tap back.  Bristol won the next line out as well with Ollie Kohn getting a catch and drive as Bristol started to get the measure of the Orrell pack.

The game started to get a little scrappy around the half hour mark as frustrations boiled over and the referee sin binned Chris Bentley of Orrell for collapsing a maul though I don't remember any penalties being awarded for this before hand in the game.  With a man advantage in the forwards Bristol took the game to Orrell but basic errors seemed destined to prevent them from getting on the score board.  From a clean line out take by Hunt we were guilty of accidental offside, but managed to wheel the scrum.  From the reset scrum a chip through gave the Orrell defence no option other than to clear the ball to touch on their own 22.

Keeping the pressure on Bristol went through the phases before James Bailey created a try with a grubber kick through that he was able to field to score in the right corner.  Danny Gray having a faultless day with the boot converted and it was game on at 7-10 with 1 minute of the extra man advantage left.  

Orrell won the line out from the restart but knocked on in the Bristol 22 and RMR was able to pick up and drive from the base of the scrum.  Bristol were again penalised for accidental offside.  Orrell attacked down the right and again were forced into touch in the 22 by some excellent defensive tackling.  Bristol claimed the line out and drove the rolling maul on and were able to clear to safety.  Orrells scrum half made a jinking run up the middle of the filed as half time approached and the Bristol defence again forced an error from Orrell as they knocked on whilst pressuring the Bristol line.

The second half started with Jones shaving the inside of the right upright with a penalty kick that looked to be missing but curled in at the last to stretch Orrells lead.  

Jason Hobson has obviously been enjoying the performance of the backs in the last few games and seems to have taken some pointers as in the next Bristol attack he was able to draw the extra defender in before delivering a pass out to Clarke on the wing but Clarke was held up just short of the line.  Bristol crossed to score a try from the ruck but were pulled back to a previous Orrell offence as Bristol were adjudged to have crossed in the move.  Danny Gray got the first of his penalties and the deficit was back to three as Bristol trailed 10-13.

The referee penalised Orrell for time wasting, an offence they seemed to have committed more than once and also penalised throws on both sides for not being straight, before Bristol were awarded a penalty in the middle of the pitch just inside the Orrell half.  Danny Gray surprised a few people when he elected to kick but his extra hours of practise obviously paid off as the ball cleared the bar to level the game at 13-13  going into the last quarter.

Owen Evans made his first appearance since the defeat to Birmingham when he came on to replace Mike Griffiths who hadn't made quite the same impact as he had the previous week against Bedford.  

Bristol looked to have upped their game now and several raking kicks drove the Orrell players back.  However Sam Cox was penalised for a late tackle on the Orrell full back and they were able to get some field position.  Sam was able to make amends with another crunching tackle forcing Orrell to spill the ball and Bristol looked to break away but Evans kicked out on the full.

Saul Nelson came on for Neil Clarke in the 23rd minute with the match very open Orrell having breaks, Bristol countering and vice versa, but the Bristol players managed to turn their opportunities into points scoring opportunities and Danny Gray made Richard Hills selection process a much easier one cementing his place in the 10 shirt with his all round play, he added a penalty from the right touchline to his earlier half way kick showing that he could handle the pressure.

Craig Hill was replaced in the 37th minute and Bristol looked to have the game sewn up a rather special drop goal from Gray, receiving the ball in the pocket the Orrell back row was quickly up, jinking inside two would be tacklers he coolly beat a third man before the simplest of kicks to give Bristol a six point lead.  Shortly after the lead was to become nine points with the game seemingly sewn up three minutes of injury time having been played, especially when Orrell missed a drop goal attempt on the 43rd minute.  A penalty was awarded though and Orrell had no option other than to run it, four minutes later, with 47 minutes on the clock they scored a consolation try and conversion, and though the referee added another minute or two the Bristol players had won through to the next round