Jarvis kicks

By Ian Todd
September 8 2009

Bristol stutterd to a narrow Championship win over London Welsh in the opening league fixture of the new season

The opening quarter commenced with both sides fashioning openings, but poor execution brought them to nothing.  The Bristol lineout misfired from the outset.  How many times have I written that over the past couple of years?  With the military two step and bizarre throwing we don't seem to have learnt much.  Despite this problem it was Bristol first on the scoreboard when Adrian Jarvis launched a long crossfield kick that the lightning Dan Norton seized upon.  He flipped the ball inside to the advancing Tom Arscott who sped to the line celebrating as he dived in.  Jarvis was confidence personified as he kicked the conversion for a 7 - 0 lead.

The teams huffed away in midfield with the Exiles having the better  of the exchanges without ever looking particularly threatening.  However Bristol did give away a penalty chance which Thomas nailed to narrow the gap to 7 - 3.  Bristol were stung into life and we saw the welcome return of the rolling maul, ably reinforced by Junior Fatilofa as they neared the line.  The move was halted and the ball was, reluctantly, given to the backs.  Once again the crossfield kick was launched but this time Norton was unable to latch on.

Welsh cleared the danger and gained their reward when Bristol were penalised again.  Thomas stepped up and it was 7 - 6.  As the half drew to its conclusion Welsh took the lead from another penalty and it was 7 - 9.  London Welsh just had to hold on to the ball to go in leading at half time but instead kick the ball away downfield.  The impressive Tarscott, solid under the high ball throughout, caught the ball and went on a mazy run from inside his 22 to the verge of the visitors'.  As the defence belatedly closed in, he drew the defender and threw a neat pass out to the flying Norton who made the last two defenders look as if they were standing still.  Jarvis again made no mistake to take Bristol to a more comfortable looking 14 - 9.

Bristol looked to kick on from this in the second half and we saw some good work from Lee Robinson and others, without ever looking as if we had figures out a way through.  The sole reward was a Jarvis penalty for a 17 - 9 lead.  Now, though, it was London Welsh who upped the pace.  Their forwards started punching holes in Bristol's defence and they held on to possession, forcing Bristol back.  They went close in the corner when a fine piece of defending by Norton forced the ball carrier into touch.  But they were not to be denied for long.

A simple pass set up the Welsh winger and he took full advantage of slack defending to go over for a try ably converted by Thomas for a score of 17 - 16.  Bristol's woes became worse when Thomas missed a penalty.  Bristol were having a conference when they belatedly realised the ball was rebounding towards were they were huddled.  Before they could react a Welsh play (Mackey I think) had jumped up caught the ball and gone over.  Thomas made no error this time and it was suddenly 17 - 23.  It was a stupid collective error.  Last season the lack of confidence would have seen us crumble at this point, but Bristol fought their way back into the game.

The forwards started to exert consistent pressure at the scrum and Welsh were (finally) penalised for failing to bind.  Jarvis coolly slotted the kick to take the score to 20 - 23.  This quickly became 23-all with just a few minutes to play.  Minutes that Bristol took full advantage of.  Robinson ran a loose kick back at the visitors (he was good under the high ball generally) and, once again, drew in several defenders.  The forward took the ball on and then it was shipped back to the supporting Robinson who made a side step before bulldozing his way over the line.  Jarvis just failed with the tricky conversion but it was 28 - 23 at the conclusion.

A rusty looking performance against one of the sides who'll be in the farcical play-off mix.  Some good individual performances from replacement forwards David Blaney and Ian Grieve, and the back three of Norton, Robinson and Tarscott.  However, the forwards collectively lacked sharpness and struggled at times in the tight.  The lineout, as said above was well down to its usual standard and must be fixed.  However the league format now means that a few early poor performances may not ultimately count for much.  The forthcoming fixture with promotion favourites Exeter would have been absolutely vital before, but now? So, Bristol came away with a win when they might well have lost.  Things to work on, but at least it's not from a position of having lost the opening fixture.  Symptomatic of Bristol's problems was the poorly organised ticketing situation before the game and the truly appalling pasty situation inside the ground.  Things to work on indeed.