BRIS BLOW COLD & EVEN COLDER

In yet another classic "game of two halves" Bristol came out on top in what would have been a nail-bitingly close contest except that everyone was wearing gloves!  Bristol were indebted to a moment of brilliance from young winger Jack Tovey for a try which finally took the game away from Moseley, despite their sterling efforts to overhaul Bristol in the second half.

Bristol failed to claim the Moseley kick-off, allowing them the chance to mount an early attack, but their efforts came to naught when a prop on the wing became isolated and was penalised.  Bristol attacked off the resulting lineout, collected by Roy Winters, and Ollie Hayes, Sean Marsden and Dan Montagu took play to the visitors, who were penalised for going offside.  Adrian Jarvis stepped up and slotted the first points of the match. 

Despite getting hold of the restart, Bristol made a hash of a planned move and gave away a long range penalty that, fortunately, Thomas sent well wide.  Bristol started to mount purposeful attacks and were aided when Moseley sent the ball straight into touch having carried it back inside their 22.  Bristol came away with the ball from the lineout and Moseley were penalised again.  Jarvis sent the ball over for a 6 - 0 lead.  The visitors tried to test the Bristol defence and went through several phases of play before Bristol gave away a penalty.  This time Thomas was unerring as he narrowed the gap to 6 - 3.  Montagu got his side moving and Anthony Elliott was set going out on his wing for  a good run.  Back inside and Mako Vunipola brushed aside two attempted tackles as the referee played advantage.  He fed Jack Tovey who either knocked-on or was tackled without the ball.  No matter, Jarvis restored the lead to six points with another accurate kick. 

Bristol were looking sharp now and Elliott made great ground as he sped onto a ball in midfield.  The support was up quickly and the ball worked out to the right wing where Jack Adams drew his man and  passed to Marsden who loped over out right.  Jarvis converted well for a 16 - 3 scoreline. 

Moseley tried to hit back and Bristol, as is their wont after scoring, gave away a kickable penalty and Thomas duly obliged.  Bristol were unfazed by this setback and Tovey showed his strength as he stood up well in the tackle.  Moseley went offside and Jarvis sent the ball into the corner.  Vunipola, Winters and Adams all had powerful runs following the lineout, sucking in the defence.  The ball was whipped away from the ruck and into the arms of Junior Fatialofa who accelerated into a gap and touched down under the posts for a converted try.  Tovey showed his strength again on the opposite wing as he set up another good field position for Bristol.  Moseley gave away a soft penalty and Jarvis took Bristol to 23 - 6. 

A fantastic drive from the restart saw Bristol almost to halfway but, when the  ball went wide, a terrific tackle from the Moseley 13 forced a turnover.  Moseley held on to possession and a quickly taken tapped penalty found them close to the Bristol line.  They stayed patient and were rewarded when scrum-half Robson popped over for an unconverted try which made the score 26 - 11 at half-time.

Bristol got the second half of to an excellent start with another Jarvis penalty.   However, this was not a harbinger of the future as Moseley upped the tempo of the game.  The Bristol scrum seemed to have problems and this allowed the visiting forwards and backs to combine well.  Thomas had a darting run but the Bristol defence just managed to bundle his supporting runners into touch.  Bristol appeared to have cleared the danger before a sudden injection of pace caught Bristol off-balance.  Davis sliced through a leaden defence to score a shockingly easy try.  The conversion narrowed the gap to 29 - 18.  Bristol had the opportunity to halt the visiting side's momentum when a long-range Jarvis' penalty struck the crossbar.  Bristol followed up well and claimed the loose ball but poor handling let them down as they sought a try.  Bristol appeared to be responding well before giving away a penalty to allow Moseley to get moving forwards again.  Moseley looked sharp as they kept Bristol pinned in their half of the pitch.  Bristol struggled to win clean ball and Moseley continued to pressure the home defence.  The Bristol scrum once again had to work very hard and was penalised.  Moseley took a tapped penalty and most of both teams dived into a pile beneath the posts.  The  referee was well-placed and he awarded the try to former Bristol player Pennycook.  The conversion meant that the score stood at an ominous 29 -25.

Bristol, to their credit, did not panic; but a knock-on from Fatialofa when in a good position did little to calm the nerves of either supporters or team.  Moseley kicked long to keep Bristol in their own half, but a neat little interchange from Tovey and Marsden led to a fine touch kick from the Bristol fullback.  The ensuing lineout was a scrappy affair but the crowd roared its approval when Tovey latched onto the ball and set off on a searing, mazy run that culminated in him plunging over the line despite the attentions of three tacklers.  This marvellous try was converted by Jarvis for a slightly less worrying 36 - 25 scoreline. 

Moseley still had it in them to threaten Bristol and their 13 again almost broke through.  With the support piling in, it looked as if Bristol were on the ropes but a terrible forward pass from Davis let Bristol off.  Only for a moment though as the Bristol scrum once more failed to function and Moseley came away with both the ball and a penalty.  They took the scrum and battered away at the Bristol line but magnificent last ditch defence forced the turnover and, with time up, the ball was dispatched to touch for a hard fought Bristol victory.