By David Hibell
January 28 2004

After a great start to the match with Danny Gray having no trouble slotting the ball through the H things in the opening exchanges of the match Bristol soon found themselves outnumbered when the referee sin binned Craig Hill after Bristol's first penalty offence of the game. Ex Newport player Gareth Cull took advantage of the penalty to even the scores and soon after Coventry made their numerical advantage count Mike Buckingham forcing his way through Danny Grays attempted tackle to score, Cull again converting to put Coventry 10-3 up. They attacked again from the restart running the ball back but some smart defensive work from Paul Hodgson covering back stemmed the attack.
Back to the full compliment of players the Shoguns started to press to even the scores, Sean Marsden, back at full back, was forced into touch a few meters out from the Coventry try line the referee took play back to a previous Coventry offence and Danny Gray was again able to add the three points.
After a quick tap and go penalty from official man of the match Paul Hodgson paid out dividends with a further penalty which Bristol opted to kick to touch in the corner Coventry were able to snaffle the loose ball from the tap back at the line out but were not able to clear their lines completely.
James Bailey made a break and put in a neat chip intended for Sean Marsden but the ball bounced unkindly and he was unable to collect it, the subsequent attack was more successful with the ball being moved wide to the left wing where Sean was able to break through several would be tacklers to score under the posts and put Bristol back into the lead 13-10 up.
After a few minutes rest when the touch judge had to be changed Coventry were able to retake the lead and extend it after two quick tries and a further penalty from Cull and an unsuccessful drop goal attempt.
The first try came after an outside break from John Cannon, he was able to offload to Cull with a two on one overlap and Cull was able to score behind the posts to make the conversion a formality, the second quickly after an individual score for Shaun Perry chipping ahead from the base of a scrum to outstrip the cover and make the half time score a worrying 13-25.
To borrow a much overused cliché this was to be a game of two halves, the second belonging almost entirely to Bristol. From the moment that a move that started with RMR fielding the ball on the left wing in his own 22 and making a break half the length of the pitch only ending when Sean Marsden's attempted pop up pass was intercepted by a retreating Coventry player it was clear that the half time talk had been rather motivational.
Danny Gray kicked a penalty awarded in the aftermath of that attack, hit the left post from another attempt on 8 minutes and a period of constant Bristol pressure saw Marco Stanojevic, with James Bailey following up begging for the pass, forced into touch a few feet from the try line shortly after.
Bristol continued to pile on the pressure and Danny Gray was able to close the gap to 19-25 with a further penalty from an offence which saw the first Coventry player sin binned. Marco was involved again in the next attack directly from a scrum with scything run, RMR picking up from the base of the ruck superbly helping the move along and an ambitious long pass from Danny Gray saw Sam Cox deflect the ball out wide towards James Bailey, but the ball was too high for the Bristol speed merchant.
Bristol were able to nose back in front again through Paul Hodgson after a break from Rob Higgit, playing despite having exams the next day, found supporting player Sam Cox who who set the scrum half free to score a converted try which turned out to be the last points of the game after 21 minutes of the 2nd half.
Not to be outdone in the back row making eye catching breaks Craig Hill showed real pace making a great break stopped by Gareth Cull in the last line of defence. James Bailey had a chance to go close in one of several breaks down the left wing that ended up a few meters short.
Scott Whitcomb was then able to make what must be the shortest ever debut appearance for Bristol when he replaced Craig Hill for all of thirty seconds before Craig returned to the fray.
Coventry made what seemed to be their first attack of the half shortly after the sin binned number six returned to the pitch and Cull after falling just short with a long range penalty attempt followed up a successful chip and chase but the Bristol team was not going to let their narrow lead slip away.
James Bailey again found himself with a foot of space on the half way line and was just beaten to the ball after chipping ahead. The referee tested the nerves of the Bristol supporters and players by finding seven minutes of injury time, but blew up eventually to give the team a nail biting victory 26-25. Cemerlang.