By Ian Todd
June 18 2014

Bristol lose both legs and London Welsh promoted.

The same as last week, I’m not doing a match report.  Partly that’s because down in Idiots’ Corner it was so wet I couldn’t take notes.  Mainly though it is because I wanted to savour and enjoy the game and the occasion.  That worked out well didn’t it!

In actual fact we played much better than in Oxford and at one stage really were in touching distance, but a couple of soft penalties given away kept Welsh comfortably ahead before we managed to start putting them under pressure.  In the end, they actually won the game which seems hard to believe after all the territory and possession we had.  The result itself was something of an irrelevance given that once again we’ve missed out on the big prize.  I am really disappointed by that.  In truth I am more disappointed that we couldn’t say goodbye to the Memorial Ground in a more fitting fashion.  The lead Welsh had coming into the game always looked hard to overcome, but it would have been nice to win our last game out our real home.

So next season we are at Ashton Gate.  But not in the Premiership.  Oh no, stuck for at least another season in the backwaters of the Championship.  I intend no disrespect, but what sort of crowd will there be for Bristol v Doncaster in the middle of winter?  Won’t that make for a great atmosphere?  It’ll be like the hollow shell that was the Kassam in the league or Meadow Lane every time I’ve visited.  Yes, I know leaving the Memorial Ground (and it is Memorial Ground despite what the well-intentioned banner said) makes a kind of commercial logic, but logic isn’t necessarily a factor.  There’s no logic in following Bristol, sometimes there doesn’t even seem to be much pleasure in it.  And we’ll have to sit down.  Amazingly I’ll still be there, but it won’t be the same.