By Jeremy O'Gorman
November 6 2022

I should have written this report from personal experience. The atmosphere for a Bristol away game is in my opinion the best in the league. I purchased my ticket early and was looking forward to a few more hours drinking with the later kickoff. I failed to observe the train strike until all the cheap rooms in town had been snapped up. However it seemed luck was on my side with the late calling off. Great Western railway were not playing the game and no extra later trains back to Reading were added on the Saturday morning. Unfortunately, when I started my car it decided the coolant level was too low and refused to start. I came back indoors, swearing heavily and watched Mawi v Scotland before waiting for the PRTV coverage to start.

The first half hour in pouring rain was eminently forgettable. The commentator was calling it one for the purists. Even the keen purist like myself was having difficulty keeping focussed as kick tennis was taken to the nth degree. I actually thought Bristol edged the first half hour, but since neither 22 was effectively breached it was a bit academic. When Bristol did get the ball to run the Sarries defence shut them down fairly ruthlessly. One side effect of the ping-pong aspect of play was that the back defence was patrolling on or around their own 22 and after the rain had stopped Max Malins stepped to the fore. I had confirmed from the ground by whatsapp that the rain had indeed finished for the day when a shorter than normal kick from Bristol had Max rushing forward. He picked up the ball and having registered that the players in front of him and the defender in the backfield were all forwards, he chipped the initial players and as the back line came forward fly hacked past him. The ball sat up nicely for Max to collect and run to the line. Goode added the conversion. 

If this was intended to galvanise the game, it failed to do so. Bristol kept going with the same tactics, but Sarries started to run the ball a bit more. However with the ball still resembling a bar of soap a nice run by Daly ended up with a knock on. What was noticeable was that Sarries were getting the upper hand in the set plays. Whilst the lineout for the men in black was as solid as last week, it was the scrum that enabled Sarries to turn the screw in this half and in fact for the whole match. The first scrum had Ricci boring in and giving away a penalty. The second went the same way in a collapse, but that was the last time Bristol got a sniff. There were I think 3 Sarries penalties in the rest of the first half, two of which led to Alex Goode keeping up his 100% record from the tee this season. It may have been a bit boring, but Sarries went in 0-13 up 

The second half was a lot more pacy, with the rain now stopped. Sarries and Bristol to a lesser extent tried to run the ball wherever possible. Although nobody scored from running play, the reasons for failure differed completely. When Bristol attacked, the defence from the men in white with red boxes was resolute and never really looked like being breached. At some point after Bristol had ground to a halt, they hoisted a kick to restart. It never really worked as Sarries were able to gather it effectively and keep possession. When Sarries attacked though, the players did look like they were opening up some gaps. There was never time though to see if this would lead to a try because a knock on always seemed to break up the play. However since a scrum ensued it didn’t mean that Sarries lost possession. 

The referee seemed pretty picky in the way the scrum was run and in the second half this same scenario happened at least 3 times. Bristol had the scrum but didn’t seem to keep the referee on their side. After a reset perhaps, there was a crooked arm for pushing too soon or some other reason. From the TV pictures I saw, Ricci was doing a great job of backing up as the ball was in the scrum half’s hands. The Bristol tight head seemed to fall for it every time. With the scrum now reversed, Ricci ground down the tight head for a penalty Sarrie’s way. Alex Goode never looked like missing except for one time. Then he hit the right post, then the left before just dropping over. Keeping up his 100% record four times in the second half allowed Sarries to score enough points for when Harry Thacker came on in the 52nd minute. Up to that point Bristol’s game plan was to win penalties in the midfield and kick them to the corner. 

Sarries had dealt with them effectively, much the same way as last week, but when Thacker came on he changed the way they were finished. He peeled off early in almost his first touch of the ball and would have scored had his teammates not thought the ruck was still happening. That time Sarries cleared their lines from the crossing penalty, but two minutes later he was back doing it, this time to score. Fortunately, Thackers source of kicks to the corner dried up completely until a few minutes from time, when he managed to set up a great field position on the line from where Solomon scored. By that time, all the subs were on the pitch and the Sarries team was definitely not the same quality as for most of the match. All in all a fairly comfortable victory. Had Sarries been able to hang on to the ball in the second half attacks on or around the Bristol 22 then they might have chased the bonus point down. However, the scrum penalties were enough anyway. It finished 10-25, although Bristol did put together probably their best phases of the match in the last minutes chasing a losing bonus point.  

In terms of the match, Dan had another excellent game, some driving runs to match his excellent arrows. Bomber Hislop looks solid and unflappable and Hunter-Hill continues to improve. Earl was excellent, but he always is. Van Zyl will be first choice scrum half for as long as he plays like this. The backs always looked like they were going to break through but never did. All in all a performance that was good enough to easily beat a Bristol shorn of all its stars. On a drier day a bonus-point might have been won. Next week against the Saints will be a sterner test. 

I thought I would add the match minutes from the fish 

Second Half is over

77' Saracens substitution: Josh Hallett is on for Elliot Daly

77' Saracens substitution: Tom Howe is on for Sean Maitland

79'Conversion missed by Callum Sheedy

78'Jono Benz Solomon has scored a try for Bristol Bears

77'Saracens substitution: Gareth Simpson is on for Ivan van Zyl

77'Saracens substitution: Toby Knight is on for Andy Christie

77'Saracens substitution: Andrew Kitchener is on for Hugh Tizard

75'Bristol Bears substitution: John Hawkins is on for Ed Holmes

73'Saracens substitution: James Flynn is on for Robin Hislop

72'Bristol Bears substitution: Jack Bates is on for Joe Jenkins

72'Saracens substitution: Ethan Lewis is on for Theodor Dan

69'Saracens substitution: Alec Clarey is on for Marco Riccioni

69'Bristol Bears substitution: Andy Uren is on for Will Porter

68'Penalty kick taken for Saracens by Alex Goode

62'Bristol Bears substitution: Jono Benz Solomon is on for Jay Tyack

60'Bristol Bears substitution: Jake Woolmore is on for Yann Thomas

59'Penalty kick taken for Saracens by Alex Goode

56'Conversion missed by Callum Sheedy

54'Harry Thacker has scored a try for Bristol Bears

52'Bristol Bears substitution: Harry Thacker is on for Bryan Byrne

48'Penalty kick taken for Saracens by Alex Goode

47'Bristol Bears substitution: Dan Thomas is on for Jake Heenan

43'Penalty kick taken for Saracens by Alex Goode

42'Bristol Bears substitution: Ioan Lloyd is on for Luke Morahan

40'Bristol Bears substitution: Joe Jenkins is on for Jack Bates

40'Second Half has begun!

First Half is over

40+1'Penalty kick taken for Saracens by Alex Goode

39'Bristol Bears substitution: Jack Bates is on for Joe Jenkins

36'Penalty kick taken for Saracens by Alex Goode

32'Successful conversion by Alex Goode

31'Max Malins has scored a try for Saracens

0'First Half has begun!

Bristol Bears: Morahan (Lloyd), Bailey, Jenkins (Bates), Bedlow, Ibitoye, Sheedy, Porter (Uren); Thomas (Woolmore), Byrne (Thacker), Tyzack (Benz-Solomon), Homes (Hawkins), Batley, Bradbury, Heenan (Thomas), Harding

Saracens: Malins, Lewington, Daly (Harris), Lozowski, Maitland (Howe), Goode, Van Zyl (Simpson); Hislop (Flynn), Dan (Lewis), Riccioni (Clarey), Hunter-Hill, Tizard (Kitchener), Christie (Knight), Earl, Wray

Bristol Bears (10): Tries: Thacker, Solomon

Saracens (25): Try: Malins; Conv: Goode; Pens: Goode (6)

Attendance: 18,507

Referee: Jack Makepeace