Bristol v Aberavon

The infamous hole
By Ian Todd
January 12 2014

Bristol took on Aberavon in the B & I Cup in what may well be the last Welsh contest at the Memorial Ground.  Bristol were comforatbale winners against a game, but limited. side

As predicted beforehand, Bristol overcame the challenge of Aberavon with relative ease, but they competed well throughout the first half hour or so, even taking a lead with a well take Jones penalty that followed some good play close to the Bristol line.  In fairness Bristol did have chances in that early period, but good defence and a definite lack of coordination in attack put paid to any scores.  Finally, after sustained pressure Jamed Hall claimed the first try of the game.  Minutes later, Bristol kicked a penalty to touch and Adrian Jarvis cut a great line, sucked in the defence and offloaded for Andy Short to score.

Jarvis, looking very sharp, set up Auguy Slowik, who fixed his opponent and glided in through the gap he had created.  In the last action of the half, Charlie Amesbury racked up the bonus point try with a burst of speed that left the defence floundering and sprinted over to leave the half time score at 26 - 3.

After the break, Bristol continued in similar fashion. Good forward pressure took play well into the visitors' half, and a nice pass from Ben Mosses freed Luke Eves for the fifth try, before Slowik made it six, when he sped over out wide after sustained pressure.  Ruki Tipuna took a quick tap penalty and neatly chipped the defence to allow Short to claim his second of the afternoon He then gathered a cross-field kick from Jarvis to complete his hat-trick.  Tipuna spotted a gap in the defence following a line-out for Bristol's penultimate try, andJoe Joyce grabbed his first try for Bristol to finish the hosts' scoring . Aberavon closed the game when Thomas went over in the final minute.