Bayonne Put to a type of sword or knife

Bristol opened the scoring after just five minutes when Shaun Perry, returning home after England duty, made a superb break into the Bayonne half. The ball was quickly recycled and then offloaded to Craig Morgan who scored without a hand being laid on him. The straightforward conversion by David Hill made it 7 – 0. Bristol were soon back on the attack, as Marko Stanojevic who was given far too much space, stepped inside two would-be tacklers; was briefly halted only to reappear seemingly crawling (with surprising speed) toward the line. The Bayonne defence just about halted the Bristol follow-up.

Bayonne made up some ground when Bristol gave away a penalty that was well taken by Dourthe to bring the score to 12 – 3. The home side was quick to respond with a sweeping move culminating in Mark Regan sprinting into the Bayonne 22, drawing the defence and popping the ball out to Joe El Abd. He then cut back inside only to be enveloped by two defenders; but he had the strength to go over the try line to score. The touch judge attempted to persuade the referee that the ball was knocked forward but the referee demurred and the try was converted to bring the score to 19 – 3 with half an hour gone.

It was all Bristol at the point and Bayonne struggled to contain the attackers. Eventually the pressure became too great to halt legally and Massabeau was shown a yellow card for some misdemeanour. With a man missing Bayonne gave away sloppy possession at a lineout. Gareth Llewellyn seized the ball and passed to Perry who sped downfield from his own half to score the bonus point try under the posts. Hill converted to leave Bristol 24 – 3 at half time.

Bristol started the second half as they had ended the first. A penalty was kicked to touch, the lineout won and ball driven on. Perry took on the ball and powered through the defender to score his second. The conversion attempt was off-target but Bristol led 29 – 3. Bristol were soon back on the attack and Robinson was set free to outpace the despairing defenders and take the score to 34 - 3.

Unsurprisingly Bristol relaxed at this point and a somewhat cavalier approach gave Bayonne some small opportunities. Surprisingly, Bayonne elected to kick for goal when Bristol went offside after a charged-down clearance. Dourthe doubled the Bayonne score and made it 34 – 6.

Bristol hadn’t totally relaxed and Alfie To’oala surged into the defense and then fed Robinson to lope in under the posts for his hat- trick. Jason Strange converted for a score of 41- 6. Still the scoring continued and Josh Taumalolo made an excellent run to score Bristol’s eighth try, converted by Strange for a final score of 48 – 6.