Brist-All Rise (Title for Mr Wood)

MOTM
By David Hibell
December 9 2004

Bristol stretched their unbeaten run witha five point haul against Bedford Blues. The tries all came from the backs but the platform for the win came from a fantastic effort from the pack who dominated Bedford up front.

Bristol started very brightly with Sean Marsden hacking a loose ball ahead after good pressure from the Bristol centres, Leigh Hinton at full back seemed to have the ball covered and was ahead of Sean in the chase, but Marsden timed his dive to perfection and was able to claim the try to send Bristol 7-0 up after the conversion in the first 2 minutes.

Bedford attacked from the restart and the chip ahead bounced unkindly for Luke Nabaro, hitting him and going back to the Bedford player who was able to get a deflected pass away under pressure to the right winger who had no option other than to chip and Bristol were able to clear their lines.

Bristol stole Bedfords line out ball and some great play with the forwards making runs deep into Bedford teritory, Ed Pearce gaining good ground with one burst up the middle before Bristol were awarded a penalty after Bedford were adjudged to have collapsed a scrum. Jason Strange making no mistake with the conversion attempt.

it wasn't quite a perfect display of place kicking though, Strange missed one penalty attempt after another Bristol break, this time with Luke Nabaro haring after the ball, was deliberately handled into touch from a good seven yards infield.

The pack was really starting to turn the screw now with some energy draining mauls and driving the Bedford pack back in the scrum, and Bedford's first meaningful attack didn't come until the 20th minute, winning a line out Bedford tried to take Bristol on up front but the forwards were able to steal the ball clear to the half way line.

Strange kicked two more penalties and Leigh Hinton one for Bedford before the next try came. Varying the game well he chipped over the defenders for the pacy backs to run onto. The covering Bedford player did well though, skipping through several tackles before Bristol again stole Bedford ball, luke Nabaro running back at them before being tackled, but using his strength he managed to make 15 yards "under the cover of radar" on his hands and knees.

Bedfords fly half Werner Bester was forced from the field with an injury to be replaced by Ali Hepher. During this change both Adam Bilig and Sam Cox had come very close to scoring and when Bristol were awarded a penalty in the shadow of the posts after a five yard scrum Matt Salter opted for the scrum again. The pack drove Bedford back and the ball squirted out the back, Ross Blake was quickest to react touching the ball down for the second of the match for the ex Bristol Grammar School players in the Shoguns line up.

Bristol attacked from the restart, spreading the ball left Luke Nabaro cutting inside from a Stortoni pass, drawing his man he passed to Joe El-Abd, but the potential try scoring pass went straight to Bedford's Brenton, Bedford could then clear their lines and stringing a few phases of play together made it up to Bristol's 22 before getting a scrum.

With the scrum deteriorating Junior Paramore picked up from the base and drove into the Bristol defence, but the defence was up to it again, the forwards stealing the ball and clearing their lines.

Bedfod seemed top be more competetive in the second half with the set piece being more stable, though Bristol still had the upperhand, and Bedford were the first to score with Hinton notching his second penalty after a succesfull rolling maul of some 15 yards for the Blues.

The second half saw two great tries, the first from Sean Marsden was a sweeping move setup by Sam cox witha great finish from Sean Marsden showing he'd lost one of his pace outsprinting the full back and left wing to score.

Saul Nelson has obviously been turning up to the backs coaching sessions after his recent try scoring exploits and got in on the act again against Bedford with a show and go on the right wing that should earn him a fine from the front row union! The move continued though and the ball was hacked on ahead by Joe El-Abd, who looked to round the keeper, sorry, who tried to knock it past Matt Allen covering at full back but the ball took an unkind bounce and The BEdford player was able to clear.

Richard Hill made a few changes as the game drew to a close with first Marco Stanojevic coming on for Luke Nabaro, then Dave Hilton for Alex Clarke and finally Chris Morgan on for Matt Salter.

Obviously out to prove apoint Marco secured the bonus point with a searing run down the left wing outstripping most of the defence to touch down in the left corner. Strange adding his fourth sucessfull conversion to round up the scoring.

The forwards really set the platform for this one and showed up well in the loose with Pearce and Hodge making inroads, Bristol didn't reach the heights of previous games, but this was possibly the sternest test faced so far at home and you can't score more than 5 points for the win.