Bristol Rugby 33-20 NEC Harlequins

By MikePW
October 17 2006

Quins Fail Again. And against the team many of us thought would be a good bet for the drop. But to begin at the beginning, Bristol has changed a bit since we were last there – it now feels like a genuine football ground (whatever the history).

The south stand turned out to be for the ‘Away Football Supporters’ and I’m sure I remember a training pitch behind the Centenary stand. Like ours, that is now a housing estate. But the supporters were as welcoming as ever and the pies highly commended. And at least two very good local ale houses (so I may not have got all these details correct). And it was a very pleasant afternoon, weatherwise.

The Quins team was pretty much as announced, with the exception of Kohn, who swapped places with Evans. The Bristol team did not appear impressive on paper but Roy’s haircut certainly was. And their number 14 had a very fetching pair of mittens. The referee was David Rose.

Quins started with Jarvis drop out, which was taken back by Bristol attacks. There followed some fairly scrappy play on both sides until a Bristol attack, during which a penalty was conceded by Quins and Hala’Ufia dispatched to the sin bin. From where I was the cause was slightly unclear. The penalty was kicked for a line out and from the resulting attack Shaun Perry dived over; Strange converted from fairly wide out. From the kick off Quins took the game to Bristol and were eventually awarded a penalty after Evans was taken out in a line out. And Jarvis kicked it, to make it 7-3. From the restart Bristol attacked and a penalty was given against Quins for going for a ball which appeared to be out of the ruck. It was kicked for a line out and from the ensuing rucks and drives Clarke went over for the second Bristol try. The conversion was taken, 14-3 after 17 minutes.
The next passage of play was fairly inconclusive until a break from deep by Williams was supported by Brown, and Bristol infringed at the ruck, Strange being binned. This time Quins made them pay, Williams putting in a neat little kick for Monye to touch down in the corner – the kick was missed but that was 14-8 after 34 minutes. And looking a bit better. But another opportunity was missed when Williams knocked on and Bristol came back with a succession of scrums near the Quins line which was concluded by the award of a penalty try, to make it 21-8. Apart from Vos replacing Skinner, the memorable moment of the half came when the two Quins full backs not playing full back, went for the same kick, with the inevitable result. But Bristol failed to score and the half ended with Quins 21-8 down.

Bristol kicked off for the second half and I’m afraid my notes only record a series of lineouts and mistakes which I won’t bore you with. The conclusion was a Bristol scrum on our 22, after which the Bristol winger, Lemi was put away against Monye – and took him on the outside. That was 26-8 and was followed by the arrival of Fuga, Ward and Kohn - unfortunately Hayter, Nebbitt and Spanghero left the pitch at the same time. Bristol kept up their attacks with confidence, despite a brilliant catch and touchfinding kick from Monye, and eventually stretched Quins enough for Lemi to wriggle through the middle for a converted try to make it 33-8 after 54 minutes. Although Bristol kept up the pressure they were unable to breach the Quins defences again and as the half progressed Quins came back into it. A drive by Turner-Hall (on for McMullen) was followed by a quick pass from Gomarsall from the ruck for Vos to dive over for a try on 75 minutes, 33-15. And still Quins battered at the Bristol defence until after conceding a penalty in the Bristol 22, some chat (I assume) resulted in a further 10m loss and the sin bin for Easter. Bristol came back but an interception and break by Williams was eventually recycled for Fuga, loitering on the right wing, to cross for the third Quins try in the last move of the game.

So what to make of that? It is difficult to find positives from the fifth straight league defeat. Quins did not give up and played with real spirit for the last third of the game – I just hope that spirit keeps us going for long enough to start winning games. We can’t go on relying on Worcester to lose.