Worcester Blown Away

The first league game of the season with Bristol giving debuts to Josh Taumalolo, Craig Morgan and Andy Reay finally getting to start a game. Worcester did the double over us last season and their home form has been a major factor in their surviving and prospering in the Premiership. Even before kick-off we were treated to a fine cheer-leading exhibition from a group wearing the world’s shortyist shorts, and they certainly put our own SWEB (or EDF) Powergirls to shame.

Sadly for Worcester, it was the best performance the home club were able to produce all afternoon. In fairness of course, the cheerleaders didn’t have a thoroughly well-drilled, organised and professional Bristol team out thinking and out muscling them.

Conditions looked to be difficult with a strong, gusting and swirling wind making even passing a challenge. The constant threat of rain also made handling tricky. Bristol made light of these problems and Jason Strange opened the scoring with a relatively straightforward penalty as the home side went offside in front of the posts. The much vaunted Worcester pack was struggling in the early exchanges and the line-out too looked under pressure. Bristol made this early pressure count as Worcester again infringed to give Strange another penalty opportunity to make the score 0 – 6. At this stage the Bristol back row and Shaun Perry were giving the Worcester scrum-half a very hard time. Perry in particular was giving his opposite number a lesson in the art of scrum-half play. It was unfortunate, for Bristol , that Runciman soon had to go off with a shoulder injury, as he looked to be struggling to cope with the pressure he was under.

Worcester managed to narrow the gap as Drahm nailed a penalty kick after 20 minutes play. Bristol soon struck back with the first try of the game as Drahm, just five metres out, was dispossessed by some powerful Bristol tackling. This was a constant problem for Worcester who conceded possession by knocking-on and at the tackle far too often. On this occasion Bristol worked the ball towards the Worcester line and then quickly passed it out to the left where the excellent Joe El Abd made his way powerfully to the line and just managed to ship the ball out of the tackle for Gareth Llewellyn to score a rare, but welcome, try. Strange made the difficult conversion from wide-out look easy, to give a 3 -13 score line.

Drahm made some amends by kicking his second penalty, but Bristol were really piling on the pressure and Morgan was denied a debut try as he just put a foot in touch as he drove down the touchline. The respite for Worcester was short-lived as Perry made use of the chip near the opposition line to give Lee Robinson the sort of sprint finish to score that is ideal for him. It was now 3 -18.

Bristol though, struggled as was common last season, at the restart and Worcester managed to regain possession and then to drive into the misaligned Bristol defence. It looked as if the replacement scrum-half Matt Powell had lost the ball forward, as a kick back towards the Bristol line by Robinson was gratefully gathered by Phil Murphy who crossed to score. Drahm failed with the conversion attempt to leave the match poised at 11 - 18 as the half came to an end.

The second half appeared to start as the first had with Strange having a kick at goal. However he misjudged the wind and the ball struck the post. Bristol maintained the pressure through the forwards and as Worcester infringed, went for the line-out in the corner. Here Chris Horsman was yellow carded for an offence and appeared to be walking even before the card was brandished. Inexplicably, having just forced one line-out against 15 men Bristol now elected to go for goal against 14. Strange promptly missed.

As sometimes happens, the depleted Worcester now pulled themselves together and drove into the Bristol half and forced a line-out five metres out from the Bristol line. Bristol held out twice as Worcester battled to get back into the match. However, Matt Salter was adjudged to have offended once too often at the breakdown and the numbers were evened up for a time as he too was sin-binned. Frankly it looked more likely to have been El Abd, but presumably it was a case of one team offence too many for the referee. Worcester boldly went for touch, only for Bristol to steal the ball and clear the danger.

Bristol made a great break out of defence as Perry made 40 metres or so, only for the supporting player to knock-on. Worcester were now back to full strength and still appeared in touching distance of Bristol . They finally managed to hold onto the ball and put together a few good passages of play. Only a forward pass brought to an end one threatening move down the left touch line. It was Bristol though who were next to score. They displayed a composure and confidence that many would consider surprising in such obvious candidates for relegation (hem hem). Strange struck two more penalties to open up a 13 point lead with nearly 70 minutes played. At this point the side of last season would have been content to hold out for the win but now they showed a ruthlessness and professionalism that stunned both home and travelling supporters. Winning another line-out, the pack drove into the Worcester 22 and the ball was then quickly worked out to the right. Josh Taumalolo created the overlap as he came into the line and sent in Robinson unopposed. Strange was again unsuccessful with yet another conversion from out wide. The score though was 11 – 29 and the bonus point was now on the cards.

Worcester now attempted to put some respectability on a score that was looking distinctly embarrassing and swept into an attack that resulted in the ball making its way out to the right, Rasmussen sped down the wing with only debutant full-back Taumalolo to beat. He was brought to a stunning halt as the shorter man drove into the chest of the taller. There was a clash of heads and Rasmussen was ominously motionless for a long period. It was an astonishingly powerful tackle, but borderline legal. It wasn’t high as many of the Worcester supporters appeared to think, but I’m not sure there was much of an effort to use the arms rather than just drive the shoulder in. After the long delay it was something of a surprise for it just to be a scrum to Bristol as a result of the knock-on from the tackle.

There was still time for the bonus point try to come and it was scored by Craig Morgan who capped a good all-round display by reading Drahm’s long pass, intercepting and running in from nearly 40 metres. This time the conversion was easier: 11 -36. Now well into time added on, tall replacement hooker David Blaney looped around the front of the lineout and sprinted, gazelle-like, down the right touch line well into the Worcester half. He was looking out for support for some while before it arrived in the shape of Shaun Perry who gratefully took the pass, swerved inside and galloped in from 20 metres or so. Strange was wide with the conversion attempt as Bristol completed an impressive opening day win 11 – 41.

This was an impressive performance by Bristol . The forwards were collectively dominant over the heavy Worcester pack even after Craig Gillies entered the fray. In the backs Andy Reay looked comfortable despite having been obviously targeted as a potential weak link by Worcester . The early tactic by Worcester of kicking over Robinson, forcing him to turn, was largely ineffective and Garvey failed to make an impression to such an extent that I was surprised at one point to notice that he was still on the pitch. Craig Morgan looked to be solid performer and his left-footed kicking gave us an extra dimension in defence. Shaun Perry was excellent throughout and overshadowed both his opposite numbers. Joe El Abd was exceptional in the back row negating Worcester attacks and wining plenty of ball on the floor. He looks to have taken a step up from last season. But was it a case of Bristol finally putting together a solid professional performance for the course of game, or was it a case of Worcester failing to perform? Certainly Worcester have played far better, but I believe that a well-drilled and organised Bristol team actually prevented Worcester from performing as well as they can. In the last ten minutes Bristol instead of sitting back and defending their lead went out and took the game away from Worcester to such an extent that not only did we get the bonus point win, but any Worcester attempt to break through the disciplined Bristol defence were snuffed out and turned into opportunities for Bristol.

This was a much more satisfying win than the opening victory of last season, which was, candidly, a bit of scrappy tussle between two poor sides. This time the win was clear cut, emphatic and, significantly, away from home. There’s a long way to go and we must be wary of reading too much into victory over a team that didn’t perform as well as it can. However, it can only give us confidence before our first home game against Saracens and for the campaign to come.