By Duncan Wood
June 27 2002

Dean Ryan was head coach at Bristol for two seasons before moving on to Gloucester. Both seasons were fairly eventful to say the least! Here is a recap of his first season in charge, 2000-1.

Dean had joined the club in the middle of the 1998-1999 season as a player coach. However, he arrived at Bristol whilst he was rehabilitating from surgery on a neck injury so we didn't see him in playing action but had to settle for watching his prowl the touchline.

However, he made his mark in the 1999-2000 season playing either at number eight or forming a formidable second row partnership alongside Garath Archer. He made 29 starts and 2 appearances off the bench and didn't look at all out of place.

During the early part of the summer of 2000, it looked as though the Bristol coaching lineup would be Bob Dwyer, Dean, Joel Stransky and Ellery Hanley. In a short and turbulent spell, Dwyer was moved upstairs and Ryan named head coach. Stransky arrived, met the players and was then not offered a contract and Mark Tainton was appointed in his place. Hanley didn't last until Christmas.

The season got off to a winning start with a narrow win at newly promoted Rotherham. The next week saw a televised game at home to Saracens where Bristol pushed the title favourites all the way but fell away in the second half.

In fact, leading at half time and but losing by full time became a bit of a theme as Wasps (a), Sale (h), London Irish (h) and Harlequins (a) all ended in defeat. The pressure was begining to mount but a welcome home victory over Leicester eased the tension until a humiliating capitulation away at Gloucester the following week, again after leading at half time.

The turning point was at home to Mont de Marsan in the first European Shield game. Neil McCarthy made his first start since Saracens and Alex Brown returned from injury. A young Argentinian fly half called Felipe Contepomi came off the bench in the second half to make his debut. Contepomi would turn out to be the find of the season.

The performances started to pick up although the results didn't always follow. We lost at La Rochelle in the Shield but beat Parma home and away. We knocked the cup holders, Wasps, out of the Tetleys in a cracker. Sadly, without our 3 Pumas, we fell at Newcastle in the next round.

We beat Rotherham, Bath and Newcastle at home in the league but lost at Northampton. Sale were shocked when we beat them at Heywood Road but we came unstuck again at Newcastle. Gloucester were outmuscled in the league but we crashed out of the Shield by losing in Mont de Marsan and drawing at home to La Rochelle.

A feature of the performances was a strong defence, 100% commitment and great kicking by Contepomi. It wasn't pretty but we were grinding out results. We lost narrowly at Leicester despite leading for long periods, beat Quins at home, drew at Irish, but then let the next three slip - Wasps (h), Saracens (a), Bath (a). It would cost us a place in the playoffs.

The season finished on a high with a resounding win over Northampton at the Memorial Stadium which featured our first try scoring bonus point of the season.

It had been a roller coaster ride. A disastrous start had been overcome and we'd strung some good wins together. Dean became the first Bristol coach to beat Bath. Some slightly dour performances were forgiven as the results started to happen.

A grade of 'could do better' could have been levelled at the whole setup. However, it had been an incredible off season and it was no surprise that the season started as it did. The whole team showed great credit to bounce back as they did. We had a new head coach and felt confident about the 2001-2 season.

Little did we know how much drama was to follow...