Bristol
BRISTOL RACK UP PALINDROMIC RECORD
By Ian Todd
March 30 2014
It seems a strange thing to say on an afternoon in which Bristol notched up a record twelve try win and secured a play-off spot, but some of the play, especially in the first half was poor, with handling errors and shocking lineouts. Still, gallant opponents were brushed aside even when not performing at the best. Bravely Ealing never gave up, and were rewarded by a slightly troubling bonus point
On a beautiful afternoon Bristol kicked off towards the clubhouse end; within moments they were on the scoreboard when Jack Wallace finished off a move started by an initial burst from Rhys Lawrence. The conversion was well taken and it was 7 – nil. Another good kick took play well into the Ealing half before play became what my notes call ‘scrappy rubbish’ for most of the remaining first quarter. Plenty of errors from both sides, with the lineouts exceptionally dysfunctional. Not a good spectacle at all, better than the reverse fixture, but only because of the weather.
At last Bristol managed to string together a few coherent phases and direct running did the rest to allow Luke Baldwin to lope over for a converted try. It seemed as if the home side had scored from virtually the next move, but play was called back for a forward pass. However, the resulting scrum saw the Ealing pack totally demolished and then penalised. It was no surprise that Bristol elected to take another scrum, again the visitors were penalised. It was quickly taken and Bryan Rennie zipped over untouched. Ealing’s woes were compounded when Evans was yellow carded for persistent team infringements and Wallace went over for the bonus point try just before half time, leaving the score at 28 – 0.
The second period did not start well for Bristol when a clumsy knock-on gave Ealing good possession that they utilised patiently, stretching the Bristol defence to allow Henderson to hammer over for a converted try before the sin-bin was up. Some more poor play followed before Bristol again showed some sharpness and strung together a flowing move that was executed swiftly and with panache. Charlie Amesbury was on the end to touch down for an unconverted score.
A try that was quickly wiped out when Henderson seized upon a poorly defended kick ahead for his second converted try. The restart was superbly gathered by Bristol (was it Skirving? I couldn’t see) and the ball slung out to Jack Tovey who showed speed and strength to hand of a would-be tackler, skip out of a tackle and dot down for a fine converted try. This effort was swiftly followed by a ffantastic break from Mitch Eadie who was well supported by George Watkins who saw his chip ahead just go into touch. Iain Grieve was not to be outdone by his fellow back-rower and he scored a lung-bursting solo effort from a good 60 metres out. In fact he was looking for someone to pass to, but just had the gas to make it over beneath the posts.
Ealing still hadn’t given up though and, awarded a penalty, went for touch and drove over Townsend to make the score 47 – 21. Sadly for them the good work was undone with another sin-binning that gave Amesbury acres of space to race into and score untouched. Ealing looked as if they were starting to tire now and the next Bristol try was not long in coming as Watkins sprinted clear, followed just seconds later by Ollie Hayes who just managed to squeeze over despite a last ditch tackle as the game looked like becoming a rout. A feeling that seemed confirmed as the flagging defence allowed Amesbury in for another try and a scoreline of 75 – 21.
A brief period of Ealing possession was turned over and Eadie sailed over from deep in the Bristol half. But at the very end replacement Jason Hobson was shown yellow (and we had been running a pool on when that would happen) and Ealing scored from the lineout, Parker’s converted try giving them what may prove to be a vital try-scoring bonus point as they seek to escape relegation.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014:04:13:08:41:30 by SenorJuan.
Jarvis just grabbed the ball and casually drop kicked it over the bar - or did he? Neither I - nor the 2 guys beside me - saw the touch judge (sorry, assistant referees) put their flags up.
Bizarrely, on the club highlights video on their website they (boringly) show all the conversions - except that one! A palindromic 9/11 conspiracy theory to rival JFK, me thinks.
Graham
C'mon Bris,
Stand out in a crowd, wear the Hoops!
