Bristol reign in Henley rain

try!
By Jake G
November 1 2004

Last year I turned up to this fixture having got off a plane at heathrow several hours before kickoff and was subjected to one of the most awful situations I have ever encountered at a rugby match when the burger van ran out of food! The rugby was pretty dire that day as well.

This time around things were looking up with the expanded food and beer
tent presenting an inviting target on arrival at the ground. The main
clubhouse bar was suitably packed with travelling support and one look
at the sky was enough to make me think at least twice about buying an
umbrella but the thought of owning one with the oppositions name pasted
all over it was enough to persuade me to take the risk.

Two minutes into the game and Jason Strange lofted a ball crossfield
that sat nicely in the air for a speeding Sean Marsden to cleanly, and
skillfully given the rain now falling, catch and race to spot it down just
to the right of the posts. Jason Strange slotted the conversion and it
was 0 - 7 with pretty much all of the game still to play. It was
also about this time that I realised the umbrella would have been a good
idea.

For about 15 minutes it appeared to be largely one way traffic as
Bristol managed to turn over and return any attack that Henley tried to
mount. The lineout was functioning perfectly despite missing the option of
Jim Brownrigg and this was causing Henley a lot of problems any time
the ball needed to be thrown in. This was ably demonstrated when after a
nice kick over the denfence by Jason Strange Bristol won the resulting
lineout and drove the ball forward via a rolling maul and Joe El Abd
touched down for Bristols second try.

Another period of back and forth play saw a few kicks go astray. The
end result of this passage was a penalty against Henley for not rolling
away on their 22 more or less in front of the sticks which strange duly
slotted to make it 0 - 15 with 24 minutes gone.

This was already looking like a far more complete performance than had
been displayed in the two teams previous meeting here. On the down
side I was really beginning to regret that lack of umbrella, just keeping
my dictaphone dry was proving to be a challenge. Still both teams were
obviously trying to play attractive running rugby despite the
conditions really dictating the stuff it up your jumper game favoured by
another westcountry side. Unfortunately for Henley, Bristol were obviously
more able to do this and this was ably demonstrated by pushing upfield and when
awarded penalties inside the Henley 22 opting for the scrums with Matt Salter
going for the pick and drive both times. After the second pick and
drive the ball was moved out through Jason Strange and on to Rob Higgit to
touchdown with Strange adding the two points.

Henley now tried to mount an incursion into Bristol territory before
half time but the defence proved too strong and Henley were left with a
score of 0-22 going into the break.

Shortly after the second half commenced Bristol were penalised for what
I've recorded as holding on giving a penalty to Henley in a very
kickable position and their kicker duly added the 3 points to finally put
Henley on the scoreboard. Unfortunately for Henley this then led to a
period of extended pressure by the Bristol pack battering away at the
defensive line. Once again a pick and drive by Salter set the ball free
which ended up with Marsden racing towards the corner. He was brought
down just inches from the line but was able to reach out and ground the
ball for his second try of the match. Jason Strange made the conversion
despite it being way out on the touchline and on the wrong side for
him.

Henley then managed to claw back another three points when awarded a
penalty on the 22 with about 20 minutes to go. It was about this time I
observed we appeared to be playing with two fullbacks. Both Sean and
Bernardo would hang back, each covering half of the pitch with Luke
moving from left to right wing as needed. When moving forward Sean would
come up and join the line at pace adding the extra man whereas Bernardo
would usually come in to sub for Ross Blake when he found himself under
a pile of forwards. Comments from Richard Hill in the press have since
confirmed this to be a deliberate tactical ploy and it is one that I
think serve us well in future games.

A raft of replacements then flooded on to give the already visibly
tired Henley players something else to worry about. Greg, Danny, Sam, Dave
Hilton and Ollie K all came on with Sean fox and Mark Irish following
shortly after. Providing the fresh legs in the set pieces proved to be
useful when 5 minutes after coming on Ollie K took a clean lineout from
the 5 metre line and in the resulting drive forward Saul Nelson came up
with a much deserved Try.

Another 5 minutes passed and a turnover in their own 22 saw Henley gift
the ball to Bristol in a deadly position. The ball moved wide through
the line and just when it looked like Luke was going to receive the
final pass for the touchdown Jon Pritchard popped up in the move to take
the ball over the line and score. Strange added the two points to seal
the final score as Henley 6 - Bristol 41.

It's at this point that I realised I was wearing a swimming pool, the
excitement of the game having taken my mind off things for a while.
That aside the match was a fantastic performance by both teams in very wet
conditions. The ball must have been as slippery as an eel fresh out of
the water but remarkably good handling was displayed nonetheless.
Henley came to the match with the intention of playing running rugby and
Bristol were more than happy to reciprocate. This led to a fantastic
game to watch but in the final analysis Henley were just unable to compete
with the pace and power of the Bristol side. With the win putting
Bristol top celebrations were in order and the coach was suitably noisey on
the return journey after a few words of thanks from Captain Matt Salter
to see us off. My personal man of the match was Jason Strange as his
tactical kicking and option taking in the line really gave the team an
iron grip over the game.