Bristol push Leinster hard but come up short

Man of the Match
By Duncan Wood
January 19 2003

The Shoguns threw caution to the wind and attacked Leinster for the full 80 minutes. 2 tries was scant reward for their efforts and Leinster were ruthless in the way they took their own chances.

Bristol gave it absolutely everything this afternoon and have to be applauded for the way they played the game this afternoon.

Unlike some of the Heineken performances this weekend, they played to win and they played to score the tries they needed to continue in the competition.

Unfortunately, they were up against a class outfit in Leinster who were, all things taken into account, the better team. However, the Shoguns gave the Irishmen a real run for their money.

Bristol started well from the whistle and forced a couple of 5 metre lineouts which Leinster defended stoutly. The Irishmen then caught Bristol with a sucker punch.

Bristol were penalised on the Leinster 22 and Brian O'Meara thumped the ball long into the Bristol 22 seing that Lee Best was caught in the ruck and out of position. David Rees covered but, with Denis Hickie breathing down his neck, could only hack into touch.

From the lineout, Leinster set up a ruck and Aidan McCullen simply picked up from the base and powered through the middle for the first score. O'Meara landed a fine conversion and it was 7-0 to Leinster.

Bristol tried to bounce back but Leinster consistently spread a thin white line across the pitch in defence and, knowing that Bristol wouldn't kick penalties, they weren't afraid to give them away!

Christian Warner inspired the next score with a fine break which took play into the Bristol 22 and, although the Shoguns held out for a couple of phases, Brian O'Driscoll was eventually given half a yard and he stretched over. 12-0.

Bristol responded in style and camped in the Leinster 22. Phil Christophers took a crash ball from Agustin Pichot and was thumped by 2 Leinster defenders under the posts which left him needing treatment.

However, Bristol weren't to be denied and Contepomi fed Gibson who threw a long miss pass to Christophers who fought his way over in the corner. In the interests of saving time, Felipe tried a drop goal for the conversion and missed. Meanwhile, Christophers was struggling and was replaced by Martn Shaw.

Contepomi was a man inspired at this point and one great break saw him make 30 metres before trying a delicate chip through for David Rees who was foiled by the presence of Denis Hickie and the ball rolled into touch.

Leinster weathered the storm and gave Bristol another lesson in taking chances on 33 minutes when Warner threaded a grubber kick through and Shane Horgan dived over to score. 5-12.

Once again, Bristol stormed straight back and referee Owens eventually had enough of Leinster's offences and sinbinned McCullen.

In his absence, Bristol's pack forced Leinster back towards their own line and, when they had to release the ball, Gibson again threw a lovely long pass and David Rees came into the line off his wing and sprinted over. Felipe converted to make it 12-17 at half time.

Bristol still needed 7 tries and started the 2nd half with real purpose. Again they kicked for the corners instead of going for goal and did force a rolling maul over the Leinster line but the ball was held up.

Leinster held out and Bristol had to regroup. They competed superbly and put real pressure on the Irishmen. Twice they looked to have created overlaps on the right but the spare men were forwards rather than backs and the defence covered.

Leinster coped with all this showing great strength and organisation in defence before O'Meara stretched the lead with a 64th minute penalty.

Bristol tried to move the ball from anywhere and Mike Lipman was prominent in a fluent move which put Martin Shaw in space. he had two men outside him only a few metres from the line but the only defender, Shane Horgan, smothered the scoring pass.

Horgan also showed his speed when he overhauled Felipe Contepomi from behind when the Argentinian looked clear.

Once again, the Irishmen made the most of their chances and, from a ruck deep in the Bristol 22, O'Meara found McCullen in space on the right and he went ove despite Agustin Pichot's valiant covering tackle. There was some doubt about the grounding but the score was awared. 12-25 was the final score.

I was actually proud of the effort and attitude shown today. Our tactics were bold and perhaps played into Leinster's hands given the strength of ther defence but how else do you score 9 tries (apart from playing Cardiff!)?

Every single player did his bit and no-one let the side down. Gus and Felipe were superb at half back and Gibson and Higgins towers of strength in the centre. The pack competed for everything and I though Ross Beattie gave it everything against Victor Costello.

Costello would have probably got my vote for Man of the Match and O'Meara was a controlling influence at scrum half. Denis Hickie always looked dangerous as did Horgan.

Leinster look a good bet for the title as they have a great pack, awesome defence and players who can take control behind the scrum.

Bristol can take great heart from pushing them so hard and, despite defeat, the players know that they gave it everything.