Bristol Roasted by London Welsh 9/11/3

By Chris D
November 11 2003

They were roasting a pig after the game, a fate that a Bristol supporter suggested might be appropriate for a referee who judged the penalty count 11-1 against Bristol in an ill-disciplined and error strewn second half display.

In fairness to the ref, the Bristol team really had themselves to blame. In fact neither side were able to make much headway throughout the game, which stuttered between passages of good driving play and recycling from both sides, punctuated with errors, with the referee’s whistle intervening whenever events started to look interesting. Additional whistles from the Pontypool-London Welsh under 19’s game on the adjacent pitch may have added to the impression of over-zealous refereeing, but Bristol were never going to stage their usual second half recovery with such a penalty count against them.

Not only will Bristol be disappointed in the result but the team will surely be unhappy that they didn’t compete as well as they have in recent games. The loss of Danny Gray before kick off with a dead leg (not really dead hopefully!) can’t be blamed since Mike Hook played well as a replacement, and the reorganization required to accommodate him merely put Marsden and Griffiths back into their rightful positions at fullback and wing. The one area where Welsh out competed Bristol was in and around the scrum, and the fact that the very un-Welsh-sounding Harvey Biljon was right on top of his game, whereas Paul Hodgson had a rare below-par performance, gave the Welsh an advantage that probably contributed to their win.

Typically, it was a scrum under pressure near the Bris 10 metre line, near the end of the first half, which gave the Welsh their only try. The Welsh lock Tim Collier knocked the ball from Hodgson as he attempted to pick up and pass, and Botterman, the Welsh hooker picked up the loose ball and ran it in from the 22. Previously, Mike Hook, looking very assured as a kicker, had put Bristol ahead with an early penalty, and the Welsh number 10, Seb Fitzgerald, had replied with two penalties for the Welsh. Otherwise Bristol spent much of the first half in their own half, although in a rare attack, James Bailey was almost put into the corner. A “scoring” pass into his breadbasket, rather than above his head, would have done the trick. Bristol ended the half 11 –3 behind, but with the promise of a gusting wind at their backs in the second half. Owen Evans replaced Sam Cox at the half hour, though we didn’t notice any obvious injury to Cox.

The Welsh team appeared from stage left for the second half (were they hiding in the trees behind the stand?) while Bristol made the long trot from the clubhouse. Recent stirring second half displays were in the minds of at least one Bristol supporter. Cue another brilliant opportunistic try by James Bailey, followed by an inexplicable 35 minutes of serial penalising of/by Bristol.

Bailey’s try followed some good initial pressure on the Welsh who were let off the hook by a penalty from Martin-Redman, and a collective pulling down of a Welsh maul. However, the Welsh severely messed-up their next series of attacks, culminating in a loose pass behind their threequarters. Bailey pounced, grubber kicking from the Bris half into the Welsh 22, easily won the race to the ball, and managed to pick up the ball cleanly and score. Hook converted to bring Bris to within 1 point (11-10) and the recovery looked underway. Unfortunately, it never materialized, and it was the Welsh, playing a well organized, controlling game against the wind who looked more likely to score, with good defensive efforts by Bristol repelling forward drives near their line on two occasions. Bristol kept penalising, Fitzgerald kept slotting his penalties (4 in the second half), and numerous substitutions by Bristol (Matt Styles for Richard Martin-Redman and Ollie Hodge for Richard Hunt on 17 minutes, Dave Hilton for Alex Clarke, and Neil Clarke for Saul Nelson on 28 minutes and Duncan Hayward for Mike Griffiths on 32 minutes) were made to little net effect. The supporters were left with only the prospect of a roast pork sandwich (£3.50) to provide comfort on the long journey home.

Bristol will be worried by their inability to control the ball, particularly when the forwards seem to have sorted out the defence of the rolling maul, by the large number of penalties conceded, and by the tendency (seen especially in earlier games this season) of becoming trapped deep in their own half for long periods of play. The team will need to raise their game considerably for next week. London Welsh should be congratulated for playing a solid and canny game, with Biljon and Fitzgerald in control at 9 and 10. Old Deer Park is a lovely place to visit, and it is good to know that a club like London Welsh can thrive within the rather forbidding structure of English club rugby. Any chance of Bristol incorporating a pork roast into the post match entertainment at the Memorial Ground?