BRISTOL BLAST POOR PLYMOUTH

A second win on the trot for Bristol, only the second home defeat for a transformed Plymouth.  Contrary to the expectations of many Bristol were in fact comfortable winners in what appeared to be a tricky fixture.  Bristol played a controlled game in traditional rugby conditions and we even had a traditional, bat sadly now rare, all in punch up.  Great entertainment, that we should all roundly condemn of course.  Plymouth struggled throughout and their lineout, in particular, was largely a source of Bristol posssession that allowed the visiting side to control the game.

Bristol were utterly on top throughout most of a first half played on a sodden pitch with numerous areas of standing water.  Fortunately much of the play was concentrated in the Plymouth half so there was hope that the areas of wear and tear would even out.  Adrian Jarvis may have silenced some of his critics with an excellent performance that commenced with a finely judged kick that put the Plymouth defence into all sorts of trouble.  The best they could achieve was a clumsy knock-on and it was a scrum to Bristol.  The ball was quickly shifted wide and George Watkins proved that back play can work in wet conditions as he skated in  for a converted try.

Of course, being Bristol, they promptly conceded a penalty straight from the restart and Roberts knocked it over for 5 – 3.  Apart from this the half was all Bristol as they executed a near-flawless display of wet’n’windy rugby.  The kicking of Jarvis coupled with a good, tight chasing game kept the hosts pinned back and under pressure.  The only thing lacking was further tries.  Jarvis though made sure that Plymouth were punished for the inevitable penalties conceded.  His final effort of the half followed the sin-binning of Vickers just before half time when another Bristol drive towards the line was illegally halted.  That made it 3 - 14 at half-time.

Bristol continued to dominate after the break, but the main talking point will be a mass brawl involving all the players at one point.  The appropriately named referee, Tempest, had no control whatsoever and was reduced to a series of futile whistles for a good three or four minutes before things calmed down.  It then took five minutes as the officials conducted a post-mortem that saw Mitch Eadie and Plymouth’s Stephens yellow-carded.  Prop Andrew was shown red.  Doubtless this will all go before a disciplinary committee and there will probably be some more citings out of it.

Unsurprisingly, Bristol were able to strike almost immediately at the depleted home side and Redford Pennycook went over following a catch-and-drive.  Jarvis duly converted for a comfortable looking 3 – 21 scoreline.

Creditably Albion did not give up.  They regrouped and, having scarcely had any opportunities for much of the game, strung togethere some good moves to put the visitors under pressure in the late stages.  Finally, replacement McAtee went over to make the final score 8 – 21.