Bristol Power Back To the Top

After a break from league action and a heavy defeat in the EDF Energy Cup it was the turn of Struggling NEC Harlequins to visit Bristol and attempt to get their first league win. After a difficult run of fixtures for them, this was surely a match that Quins would have targeted before the season even began. Would the break have left Bristol rusty and vulnerable to a a highly motivated challenger?

Bristol in fact started with great confidence and were soon into Quins half, only for some over-complication to allow the Quins defence to recover and halt the promising move. The Bristol pack then demonstrated the hallmark of the afternoon, the ineffectiveness of Quins at the set-piece, by heaving Quins backwards on their own put-in. The Bristol forwards were utterly dominant for the first hour of the game. Alfie To’oala was particularly prominent and hammered into a stunned Jarvis early on and continued in similar vein throughout. His ball-carrying gave Bristol excellent territory. Quins were forced to give away penalties and free kicks. Near the right corner Shaun Perry took a quick tap only for the Quins number eight Hala’ufia to immediately tackle him. The referee promptly yellow carded the player for not retreating 10 metres. In fairness he was the most impressive player for Quins with pace, aggression and good skills. The Quins supporter in front of me agreed, but commented that “he always spends ten minutes off the field”. In his absence Bristol kicked for the corner, the catch and drive was just about halted, but Perry dashed through some disorganised defending to score the opening try of the game. Jason Strange made the conversion to give Bristol the early lead of 7 – 0.

Quins though were to quickly narrow the gap when Craig Morgan sent a kick out on the full to give Quins an attacking lineout. Roy Winters was adjudged to have pulled the opposition man down, and Jarvis was successful with the resultant penalty, 7 - 3. Just why Winters would have taken the man out is inexplicable; the Quins’ lineout was dysfunctional, in the first half particularly. Indeed, at one point I noted that we had won sloppy ball at the lineout, when I then recollected that it wasn’t even our throw.

Bristol were promptly back down the Quins half with some excellent forward efforts. Alex Clarke came very close with one shot. Quins went offside at the ruck and Strange kicked for the corner. The ball was mauled towards the try line despite Quins now being back to full strength and, after sustained pressure, Clarke was able to pick up and be driven over for the try which Strange converted; 14 – 3.

Strange soon had the chance to extend the lead from a penalty dead in front of the posts, but at extreme range. The ball fell just under the crossbar, and those in the crowd who felt that the Bristol forwards so clearly had the measure of Quins that the kick to touch was surely the better option felt vindicated.

Quins’ sole attacking weapon at this point appeared to be the kick over the defence, but essentially this just gave possession back to Bristol . The first real danger came as Quins managed a kick into the corner after 22 minutes play. Their forwards attempted to take on the Bristol pack, but were held out by staunch defence and by Perry piledriving his opposite number backwards into touch. Sadly Matt Salter was now forced from the field by a shoulder injury. The delay brought some ill-mannered slow handclapping from a group of Quins fans in the corner of the South Stand. Now, I know that Leicester had upset them a couple of weeks ago with some apparent delaying tactics involving ‘injuries’, but it was obvious that the guy was genuinely injured and I am forced to conclude they were idiots, but not (fortunately for them!) in Idiots’ Corner.

Quins were able to attack a distracted Bristol side as fullback Brown made a great 40 metre break only to be held up just short of the line by Josh Taumalolo. At the ruck Strange was harshly yellow carded for coming in from the side. Quins went for the scrum, unsurprising in view of their poor lineout, but struggled to create any pressure. For the first time, however, Quins’ tactic of kicking possession away had a positive impact as winger Williams sent a somewhat over-hit kick towards the corner. His fellow winger Monye raced through the defenders and managed to get a hand to the ball before it went dead. The conversion attempt was from out wide and was narrowly off target to leave the score at 14 – 8.

With the half drawing to a close Bristol seemed to reassert their dominance at the flick of a switch. A fine grubber from Perry caused the defence to carry the ball over the line. Bristol then encamped on the Quins line, forcing a series of energy-sapping scrums. The Quins’ pack was clearly in difficulties and it was unsurprising to see the referee trot behind the posts to award a penalty try. With a few seconds of Strange’s penance to go Taumalolo stepped up to make the conversion and bring the half time score to 21 – 8.

Strange was to miss a penalty early in the second half but the forwards clearly felt this was just a sign that they should demonstrate their ascendancy over the Quins. To’oala and Dan Ward-Smith took on the ball and made some hard ground, sucking in the defenders. The ball went neatly out to David Lemi on the left who showed immense acceleration to out-pace the defenders and touch down for the try scoring bonus point. He slipped as he sensibly attempted to turn and get closer to the posts, and Strange’s missed conversion showed that he was wise to have made the attempt to ease the kick. 26 – 8, though.

Bristol were rampant at this point and within minutes another score effectively ended the match. Backs and forwards combined in a series of scintillating moves. Lemi came into midfield from his wing and gave a superb display of his skills by stepping through the congested defence and then selling a fine dummy and scoring beneath the posts. There was no mistake from Strange and it was 33 – 8 with less than an hour played.

Quins could have capitulated completely at this point, but they gathered some degree of composure and attempted to take the game back to Bristol . The defence though remained solid and, as the game went into the final ten minutes, replacement Geraint Lewis was hustled into touch agonisingly close to the line. Creditably, Quins kept plugging away. Bristol , understandably enough, had now made the full range of replacements and typically lost the defensive and attacking organisation that had served so well earlier. The visitors were duly rewarded with a second try, scored from close range by Vos and converted by Jarvis.

Surprisingly with just minutes remaining, Quins lost their captain Easter to the sin-bin for apparently talking back to the referee. How exactly this constitutes a yellow card offence is beyond me. The extra ten metres given by the referee helped Bristol launch one final assault on the Quins. A long pass with a three man overlap was intercepted by Williams who, oddly, appeared to stumble with the Bristol line seemingly at this mercy, but he was able to get the ball in for Fuga to trot over. The conversion attempt was well wide and the final score was flattering to Quins at 33 – 20.

Make no mistake; Bristol thoroughly deserved the bonus point win that takes them back to the top of the table. Some of the play was of a very high standard indeed. The lack of cohesiveness in the last quarter allowed Quins to score a couple of consolation tries, but how often in the past have Bristol been so far ahead that they could afford to allow the opposition to score two additional tries? However, Harlequins forward effort was not, generally, very good. The scrum was a shambles and their first-half lineout, especially, was shocking. Good player though he is, Gomarsall was made to look distinctly average behind an outgunned pack. For Bristol , Perry had another good game and both Ward-Smith and, particularly, To’oala look to have really made the transition to Premiership standard. Areas of concern remain, of course. Kicks from hand too often either don’t make touch or find space (and this has been true throughout the season so far) and we did lose our structure in the final quarter. Fortunately, we had by then been able to score five tries and get a try-scoring bonus point for the third time this season, so if we are going to lose concentration after that I suppose it is a nice problem to have!

Next it is off to the European Challenge Cup. I can’t make it to Bucharest , so if anyone wants to deliver a match report, please let me know.