Bristol Struggle Against Munster Pack

New Ormond Park
By Fred Gwynne
November 29 2009

A greatly changed, but still young, Bristol side lost out to a well drilled Munster A in their second British & Irish Cup match

It rained for much of the day but not for the match itself, although it remained chill.  So the handling conditions were poor and this led to a number of errors from both teams.

Despite the conditions both sides tried to play good rugby, but the greater experience and solidity of the hosts saw them outplay a side much changed from the one that had surprisingly beaten Neath.  The setpiece was dominant and gave the backs an opportunity to show their skills.

Bristol threatened occasionally, particularly in the first half, but went into the second trailing by eight points to three.  A penalty from Cusack and an unconverted try, following a five metre scrum; against a single Ashwin penalty.

Any hope for Bristol was quickly dashed in the second half with a fine try from Barnes.  As Bristol had in the first half Munster went for touch from a penalty.  A few phases later Barnes forced his way over. For much of the rest of the game Bristol were forced to defend.  Towards the end an outstanding piece of play saw O'Mahony collect a pinpoint cross field kick, following a knock-on by Ashwin, to score out wide.  Bristol's sole response was another Ashwin penalty that had briefly narrowed the gap to 13 - 6.  The final score was 18 - 6.