Higgit chiefs architect of destruction?

minister of defence
By David Hibell
December 16 2003

Bristol went into the match in 11th place after a loss at Plymouth, but ended up in mid table with games against the bottom three teams to come.

Exeter kicked off the match with the breeze behind them and forced Bristol back to their 22, but Bristol were able to break out of defence with Rob Higgit having a great run down the right wing, the ball was fed back to Morgan, to Hodgson who was tackled, Morgan then fed Danny Gray who’s attempted pass to Hobson was spilled after a juggling attempt to control it and Exeter were given the scrum on their 22. However they were penalised in front of the posts and Danny Gray had no problems putting Bristol 3-0 up after only three minutes.

Exeter went straight on the attack from the restart but spinning the ball out to the right Rob Higgit moved his opposite number back a full 5 yards in the tackle to force the turn over and allow Bristol to clear the ball to safety.

The press during the week had said that Exeter look to play a ten man game with the ball not going to the wings but they looked to spread it wide early doors, however their first try came from the forwards with Richard Baxter being credited with the 1st try in the left corner. Tony Yapp failed with the conversion but Exeter were ahead on the scoreboard. Their lead did not last long and Bristol were not behind them again all match.

On 16 minutes Bristol looked to attack again but the attack was halted by a clothes line tackle by Yapp but Steve Lander awarded the penalty to Exeter much to the chagrin of the crowd. However Bristol found themselves on the attack again shortly afterwards and after cycling through a couple of phases Exeter were penalised outside their 22. Bristol looked to play an attacking game and opted for a line out but the ball was knocked on by Ollie Hodge at the tail of the line out and Exeter were awarded a scrum.

Jason Hobson obviously relished the scrums against his old team and used his knowledge of Bristol old boy Altan Ozdemirs’ play to give him a hard time in the scrums all game. This scrum was wheeled round and after a bullocking run by Martin Haag leaving a tail of Exeter players in his wake, Paul Hodgson got the ball away to Danny Gray despite the attentions of an Exeter player that he wasn’t happy with and Danny threw a lovely long miss pass to cut out the Exeter defence to Marco Stanojevic who put Sean Marsden away for his fifth league try of the season in the left corner.

Higgit then made another break that broke down in the Exeter 22 when Sean was unable to hold on, spilling the ball forwards. Keith Brooking came on for the injured Sam Blythe and had a tough time acclimatising, Exeter losing the first 2 or 3 line outs after he came on, it was from one of these lost line outs that Exeter were awarded a penalty which Yapp made no mistake with to level at 8 a piece.

Three minutes later though Marco was able to re-establish the Bristol lead receiving the ball in midfield and out stripping the covering defence to score a seven pointer under the posts.

However Exeter weren’t finished yet, my notes say that Bristol were starting to miss first up tackles now & a missed touch finder that went to Ed Lewsey enabled them to break down the right and the ball was cycled out to the left where Tony Yapp was able to touch down for their second try which the scoreboard says he managed to convert, the crowd weren’t so sure, Danny Gray had the chance to make it 18-15 shortly before half time but his attempted penalty drifted just left of the posts and the half ended with the game having all the makings of a see-saw contest.

The second half saw the Bristol backs step up a gear, Danny Gray used the wind much better to put in several excellent kicks and Bristol were able to run in tries every ten minutes with Danny Gray converting all four second half tries.

The first came from some quick thinking by Paul Hodgson after Rob Higgit had been stopped in midfield and some excellent work from James Bailey who somehow managed to avoid going into touch despite half his body being over the line. Dodge tapped and went on a Bristol penalty and Rob Higgit was on hand to finish off the move and was surely the most deserved try scorer of the day with an excellent game in defence and attack. Shortly after scoring the try he dumped Siaosi Vaili on the floor to snuff out an Exeter attack.

The fourth try, and the bonus point, was secured after a training ground move. All the Bristol backs had lined up to the right of the scrum the ball was taken on into the Exeter 22, Danny chipped cross field where Sam Cox was able to secure the ball, getting the pass away to Hobbo to stroll in. Sam had to be replaced by Owen Evans after sustaining an ankle injury but the change to the line up did not stop Bristol from running the ball from everywhere.

Paul Hodgson breaking from close to the Bristol try line on a weaving run up to half way but his attempted chip through for Marsden to run onto went straight to the arms of the covering Exeter player.

Richard hill made two changes to the pack with Richard Hunt and Craig Hill coming on for Martin Haag and Matt Styles n the 27th minutes. The fifth try was reminiscent to Martin Haag’s for Bath in the cup final win over Gloucester with Rob Higgit emerging from the centre of a ruck to run to the line, but he was stopped short, James Bailey was on hand for the pass and a simple run in under the posts.

Two changes were made to Bristol’s front row with Alex Clarke and Craig McGrath coming on for Saul Nelson and Dave Hilton and then Duncan Hayward replacing man of the match Rob Higgit on 36 and 37 minutes.

If some of the previous tries had come from the training ground, the last came from Bristol’s willingness to run everything and Exeter’s attempts to get on the scoreboard with both teams having the ball and gifting it to the opposition. Marsden made a break and for the second time an attempted chip ahead went straight to the hands of an Exeter defender, but Bristol won a turn over, Danny Gray again lofted a cross field kick to the left wing but Bristol were unable to cross the line, Exeter hacking the ball away, Bailey then fed Alex Clarke for a storming Andy Sherridan like run through several players before giving the scoring pass to Craig Hill to round the match off.