By Paul Bristow
February 16 2004

A French referee might have added a Gallic romance to the St Valentine’s match at Goldington Road, but instead of flowers, he turned up with a pocket stuffed with cards. Unfortunately the Bristol side failed to turn up at all. After last week’s heroics against Orrell, Bristol were brought back down to earth at a cold and wet Goldington Road. The visitors never really got going and were chasing the game throughout.

They did play well in patches, and although they looked to have secured a bonus point, it was denied by a combination of indiscipline and bad luck as Bedford proved the more ruthless in taking their chances. Bristol’s good home form seems to desert them when they very definitely have a chance, and as at London Welsh and Henley, so it proved at Bedford.

Take nothing away from Bedford, though. This was a seasoned team of proven performers. Ali Hepher, Matty Stewart and Ben Whetstone are amongst a crop of players with significant Premiership experience, and they were joined by the familiar face of Spencer Brown, who will always be held in high regard by the Memorial Ground faithful. Bristol, meanwhile, showed several changes from the team who had run Orrell so close. Danny Gray returned at fly half, and with international call ups limiting choice in the back three, Brett Davey took the full back slot and Sean Marsden moved to the wing. With Richard Hill out managing the England Students side, Martin Haag had his first game in charge.

The match couldn’t have got off to a worse start. After seven minutes Whetstone broke through some poor Bristol tackling to touch down. Ali Hepher slotted the easy conversion, and Bedford were seven points up. Things didn’t improve. From the restart Bedford put Bristol under pressure, and referee Monsieur Gauzins showed Danny Gray a yellow card. Danny seemed as bemused by this decision as the rest of us, commenting, “ It [the ball] came out of the ruck and I kicked it, but I didn’t know what the card was for.”

However, it was fourteen-man Bristol who scored next, Brett Davey slotting a penalty to make it 7-3. Bedford continued to put Bristol under pressure, and were awarded a penalty. Hepher saw his attempt rebound off the posts, but Bristol failed to clear, conceding another penalty for offside which Hepher duly converted, making it 10-3.

Bristol’s tendency to help Bedford draw even further ahead showed itself half an hour in, when Chris Morgan was sent to the bin for not rolling away. Seizing the opportunity, the Blues pressed forward, and good linking between forwards and backs gave Bedford a position in the Bris 22. The extra man in the pack was made to count and Volland powered over. Hepher converted, and Bedford were 17-3 in front.

By half time Gray had reduced the deficit to 17-6 with a well-struck penalty, but Bedford deserved their lead.

Bristol began the second half more brightly. The back row defensive effort had been good throughout, but now the Bristol forwards began to drive at Bedford and make ground. After a fantastic tackle by Ollie Kohn, Bristol won a lineout in a great position near the Bedford line. Bristol drove on, but Bedford had strayed offside. Danny converted the opportunity and Bristol were back in the game at 17-9.

Almost immediately, Bedford cancelled out that score, as, soon after the restart, Bristol let themselves down and were caught offside. Hepher made it 20-9.

With a quarter of an hour of the half gone Haag brought on Sam Cox and Scott Witcombe for Jon Hawker and Matt Styles. Their introduction saw Bristol pick up the intensity of their attacks. Bedford, to their credit, had successfully bottled up the Bristol midfield very well, and managed to frustrate Bristol’s efforts to spread the ball wide. A more direct approach helped, as Cox, in particular, went on to make some useful breaks.

Unfortunately for Bristol, they soon found themselves down to fourteen men – and this time permanently. A familiar sight for Bristol fans, Spencer Brown made a good run down the left, before being held by the Bristol defence. The touch judge’s flag went up, and at the next break in play Brett Davey received a red card. To this point, Brett had been impressive in defence, and his kicking from hand in particular had been a Bristol strength. A Bedford player who shared the train home with me told me that it was for stamping, but that as far as he was aware only a few home supporters – and none of the home team – had appealed for it. Whatever the truth of the incident, Hepher converted the resultant penalty to make it 23-9.

Ten minutes to go, but Bristol didn’t give up, and looked to take the game to Bedford. Craig McGrath came on from Neil Clarke, and the travelling support raised one of the biggest cheers of the day (certainly bigger than the recorded cheering that greeted Bedford’s scores) was occasioned by the welcome return to action of Richard Skuse after his prolonged injury lay-off.

It was now Bedford’s turn to be on the wrong end of a carding as Kramer Ronaki found his way to the sin bin. A minute later Chris Rainbow followed him. With a one-man advantage, Bris got across the line. Danny Gray kicked over the top and Sean Marsden held on to score. Gray converted – 23-16 with five minutes to go.

Any hope of victory at the death, as well as a bonus point, was dashed as Bedford went all out to make the game safe. Right wing Mike Staten got over the Bristol line, and Ali Hepher converted with the last play of the match.

Bedford deserved their win, and there is no shame in losing to a side with the experience of the Blues. However, Bristol contributed to their own downfall through some lax discipline. The team has improved significantly since the start of the season, and some of their qualities were on show at Bedford.

Next season Bristol will have to win games such as this if they are to challenge for a top-three finish. Bristol will have to remember the lessons of Saturday if they are to start bringing home the points when they are on the road.

Richard Hill suggested in a recent column that the team need to be much more ruthless in their approach, and St. Valentine’s day at Goldington Road would have been an appropriate place to display a new found lack of compassion for the opposition. Alas, it wasn’t to be…