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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026:05:27:20:35:11 by Darraghgirl.

Great preview thank you DG.

+1
As you say every game is a cup tie now.

I think the Chiefs game is likely to be the toughest of our remaining fixtures but without winning those before it may matter little.

Play the same team and the same way as we have recently, get the mental side right and I feel positive about our chances.

Thanks for a great preview.

My confidence levels for this one will be largely based on the sides put out at midday on Friday. Bears have had no luck with injuries recently but the week off may have given them time for some returnees.

As said above, I hope we stick with consistency in selection, albeit I hope Tobias is back fit and in the 23.

I’ve just seen Oghre is out for the rest of the season, big shame for him as he deserved to be looked at by England on this season’s form. Bristol having a rough time with injuries.

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TommyKentish
I’ve just seen Oghre is out for the rest of the season, big shame for him as he deserved to be looked at by England on this season’s form. Bristol having a rough time with injuries.

Thanks TK, Oghre was strangely overlooked when England picked a clearly unfit Cowan Dickie. Think his injury will scupper any England tour opportunity in the summer? Our injury list (of 1st choice players) is catastrophic, even I am expecting a call up from Pat Lam!

Yes I can’t imagine he’ll be available for the summer. Big opportunity to actually be forced to try options in that position with LCD out. If Dan isn’t going to be given minutes then maybe Jibulu or Tuipolotu will be selected.

Sounds like a good few of the Bristol injured will be back.
Hopefully for us Tom Willis is through his HIA protocols, and Tobias Elliot and Angus Hall are available again.
I’m not expecting any starting 15 changes after the last couple of weeks and can’t see us changing the balance of the bench.

I think you could make a couple of changes on the bench and increase our chances but I also think it's fair to back selections that have helped get us the last couple of wins.

One thing we've not really commented on is looking at some other teams we're reaching the end of the season in pretty good shape in terms of player availability and game time.

Referee Christophe Ridley (we are seeing a lot of him at the moment)
AR: Adam Leal, Jamie Leahy
TMO: Andrew Jackson

Best behaviour then. We know he's partial to penalising us for backchat.
If he's proving problematic just get Willis to run over him again. It worked for Bath with Amushekeli!

Very happy with that lineup!

Do we know what’s happened to Marco? Thought he was ok after the Tigers game? Good to see Tobias back. Bristol still looking very strong despite absences.

This feels like an opportunity for Isikewe to turn up and put in a statement performance with Theo being out for the birth of his child this week. Clearly talented, but haven’t really seen him lay down a performance in a few seasons. Backing him to show up!

Given the amount of worry prior to the teams expressed by Bristol supporters I thought they'd be much weaker. That's a quality side and beating them away will be a tough challenge.

Generally very positive about our 23. We'll miss McFarland who has been brilliant for us but he is probably due some rotation.
Great to see the 9,10, 12, 13, 15 axis backed again.
Interested to see how Street copes with Genge and his verbals. Also good to see Clarey back and will be good to see how he goes.
Good to see Elliott back but lack of centre cover is a poor call. I don't want to see Farrell at 12 again.
On that note unless there are injuries or we are 50 points clear. Willis to stay on. Farrell to stay off.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026:05:08:18:10:24 by PaulHerox.

Quote:

PaulHerox
Given the amount of worry prior to the teams expressed by Bristol supporters I thought they'd be much weaker. That's a quality side and beating them away will be a tough challenge.
Generally very positive about our 23. We'll miss McFarland who has been brilliant for us but he is probably due some rotation.
Great to see the 9,10, 12, 13, 15 axis backed again.
Interested to see how Street copes with Genge and his verbals. Also good to see Clarey back and will be good to see how he goes.
Good to see Elliott back but lack of centre cover is a poor call. I don't want to see Farrell at 12 again.
On that note unless there are injuries or we are 50 points clear. Willis to stay on. Farrell to stay off.

I thought you liked Farrell though Paul?

Bristol XV looks strong but the strength of the benches is night and day on paper.

Never confident away at Bristol though.

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jimfitz12

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PaulHerox
Given the amount of worry prior to the teams expressed by Bristol supporters I thought they'd be much weaker. That's a quality side and beating them away will be a tough challenge.
Generally very positive about our 23. We'll miss McFarland who has been brilliant for us but he is probably due some rotation.
Great to see the 9,10, 12, 13, 15 axis backed again.
Interested to see how Street copes with Genge and his verbals. Also good to see Clarey back and will be good to see how he goes.
Good to see Elliott back but lack of centre cover is a poor call. I don't want to see Farrell at 12 again.
On that note unless there are injuries or we are 50 points clear. Willis to stay on. Farrell to stay off.

I thought you liked Farrell though Paul?

He hides it well 😂

Tigers absolutely walloped Saints. Not great for us in terms of the table although I’m not sure 3rd place is really in play for us. Makes me feel better about beating Tigers though, Parling has got them playing really well.

Agree TK We just nee to focus on taking 4 (preferably 5) from Ashton gate

Johnston scoring a conversion on (presumably) his last match for Ampthill.

Bobkers game so far haven't had a chance to breathe yet

As a neutral…in the modern game how was that charge with the head into Itojes jaw not a card of some colour?! Amazing decision.

[24/25 adoptee: Francois van Wyk]

Apparently we should have given up on the season 5 weeks ago...

Bloody hell Ridley, two baffling decisions in that second half...

First half heart through the roof because it was so fun, second half heart through the roof with stress. Very good defence to not really allow Bris a sniff despite all the possession and territory but I really don’t want us to do that again, feels like playing with fire these days. Very glad that atrocious decision re Batley and Itoje didn’t lose us the game but the bonus point could be huge come the end of the season.

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BathMatt53
As a neutral…in the modern game how was that charge with the head into Itojes jaw not a card of some colour?! Amazing decision.

Wasn’t even a penalty. Shocking

A very good first half performance.
I wasn’t a fan of shutting up shop for the full second 40. Imo we made it tighter than it should have been.

Really pleased with how Charlie Fergus and Hartley are going. If only we’d played them a little earlier in the season.

I thought Christophe was going to Luke Pearce us at the end there. The red card was one thing but calling the Randall drop “backwards” until the TMO put him right nearly caused me to put my phone through the tv

Ridley baffling. Nonetheless a hugely impressive performance from each player on the field. Lets keep the momentum going!

Pleased to hear Jamie bigging up Burke after the game. Seems to get no credit from commentators for how well he is playing.

Good shifts from Tiz and Nick I alongside the usual suspects in the pack.

Charlie seemed to be dropping off towards the end of his shift. No surprise at all with the speed we want to play, even for the king of the bronco. Shows what an excellent signing Williams looks to be for next season. Two 9s who can together go hammer and tongs for the full 80 if needed.

Jamie said at the end that Hugh T asked why we couldn’t do that in December - I think a lot of us are asking the same question.

I think we shut up shop too early with Faz in for Ferg, didn’t make sense. Gameplan changed to shut up shop too early. Charlie’s kicks not quite on the money in the second half, and charged down a couple of times, but not complaining, he has been brilliant as his first have performance showed. Tobias came on and made some telling interventions. Hope Marcus fit for next week although scrum shored up when Rhys came on. Well done lads, a game we would’ve lost earlier in the season, great the selection and game plan has addressed that.

Really enjoyable game and glad that we didn't end up losing based on a frankly inexplicable call by Ridley.
The same relief that McCall/Shaw's decision to defend a lead for 30 minutes didn't come undone. I suspect it might against more physical or better attacking teams.

Otherwise and exciting and enjoyable game. A few hairy moments from Malins but he shows once again that intelligence and skill will get you places in attack that speed alone won't. I thought all three of our locks were outstanding.

Great to see the return of the Skilful Beast but for me the turning point was Isiekwe dislodging the ball from Fitzhardings grasp after George's throw (I think he owes Nick many beers for that) and then Clarey winning the scrum penalty to relieve the pressure just before half-time.
Watching Burke and Malins attack the line is returning the joy of rugby to me. Hartley incredible too and for all Caluori's majesty in the air I thought Segun was one of our best players today.

Not sure what Riccioni's situation is but the HIA for Street a bit worrying with Glos next week. The one thing that is firing on all cylinders for them right now is their scrum. Hopefully ay least one of our main TightHeads is available.

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DAOS
Jamie said at the end that Hugh T asked why we couldn’t do that in December - I think a lot of us are asking the same question.

The short answer is the same one as to "what's changed" and it's that we have proper attacking threats at 10 and FullBack complemented by great service from 9, a quality carrying and passing option at 12 with another great option at 13 and wingers with pace and decent defence and we're empowering them to play.

I think George said last week that things had changed with the Bath and Saints game but for me those were the last throws of what came before. A feature of both of those games was a misfiring attack that didn't deliver when we had ascendancy, and play-makers wasting great possession. I think that might not be the case now if we chance to play them again.

Some great performances today but really thought Maro was MoM.

really got to hope that bath can deal with exeter and a sour after being kicked out of the Euros and well up for it... that makes 4th gettable considering we face them last.... as someone already mentioned 3rd is not even in the room, let alone on the table.

Ninjafez - supporting Sarries and cleaning their signs since 2006!

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Strangelove
I think we shut up shop too early with Faz in for Ferg, didn’t make sense. Gameplan changed to shut up shop too early. Charlie’s kicks not quite on the money in the second half, and charged down a couple of times, but not complaining, he has been brilliant as his first have performance showed. Tobias came on and made some telling interventions. Hope Marcus fit for next week although scrum shored up when Rhys came on. Well done lads, a game we would’ve lost earlier in the season, great the selection and game plan has addressed that.

Agree the gameplan to switch it up came too early for comfort but it wasn’t a Faz thing, it started immediately after half time. No Charlie’s natural game at all and it showed with the pressure the was under box kicking. Still, good experience for him. Street’s fitness is a big thing for next week, that Glos scrum is no joke.

I thought in amongst the really strong performances Bracken's was very mixed. His inability to adapt to being charged down showed his inexperience although maybe in that situation when he's struggling it needs a senior player to sort things out. Still generally a big positive though and some of his passing in the first half was top.

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TommyKentish
Agree the gameplan to switch it up came too early for comfort but it wasn’t a Faz thing, it started immediately after half time.

We kept attacking the first ten minutes after half time just things didn't stick.
As soon as Farrell came on we started playing ten man rugby (and that's being generous) with initially pedestrian play down the line and then sending Caluori after four successive box-kicks into the sun with our limited attacking ball.
We basically took Hartley, Tompkins and Malins out of the game for the last 30 which is a criminal waste of talent.
It was a reversion to the mindset of defending a lead that we have seen doesn't work against the best teams this season and better teams have and will punish us for that although it was enough against Bristol.

Watching it again it's quite incredible how often Burke bails us out in defence. The combination of being quick, reading the game well and being an very good defender is a great combination.
I really enjoyed when Marmion took the quick tap and go right next to Burke he just shadows him for 10m, lets Malins make the tackle, commits to the jackal which means Thacker has to clear him then Malins makes the turnover.
There's such a great connection with that set of backs.
Same goes for our attacking shape. Momentum was kept fairly often by great hands by Burke, Malins and also Tompkins when taking poor passes.

Enjoyed the Van-Zyl snipe from our half that probably gets a reward with a better kick selection from Elliott.
Good to see the later back though and he was great under the high ball. It's going to be hard to get game time for all those young backs.

It feels like we're probably more likely to offer Farrell another season than give Burke a new contract but we could really do with tying him down for the next two/three seasons. Lots of pieces are coming together in the backs but he, Hartley and Malins have been transformative for our attack.

So let's hope for a Bath win and nil points for Chiefs.

The logic of shutting shop on Bristol would be to stop them getting the bonus points, as they are a team we must get ahead of. It could have got us the 5 - 0 result. The 5 - 1 is better than 4 - 0 (as it counts more against Exeter).

But it did make for a nervy last quarter.

Successful hills are here to stay
Everything must be this way
Gentle streets where people play
Welcome to the Soft Parade

🌻🌻🌻

To be fair, I’m not sure Farrell coming on was the cause of the shutting up shop - I think he came on because the modus for the rest of the game was just to boot it away and defend.

As above, I don’t think it was the right play and against better teams it won’t work. We just aren’t good enough or physical enough to defend against Bath or Saints for 40 mins.

I think our best approach is just to keep going and cause some chaos.

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PaulHerox
I thought in amongst the really strong performances Bracken's was very mixed. His inability to adapt to being charged down showed his inexperience although maybe in that situation when he's struggling it needs a senior player to sort things out. Still generally a big positive though and some of his passing in the first half was top.

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TommyKentish
Agree the gameplan to switch it up came too early for comfort but it wasn’t a Faz thing, it started immediately after half time.

We kept attacking the first ten minutes after half time just things didn't stick.
As soon as Farrell came on we started playing ten man rugby (and that's being generous) with initially pedestrian play down the line and then sending Caluori after four successive box-kicks into the sun with our limited attacking ball.
We basically took Hartley, Tompkins and Malins out of the game for the last 30 which is a criminal waste of talent.
It was a reversion to the mindset of defending a lead that we have seen doesn't work against the best teams this season and better teams have and will punish us for that although it was enough against Bristol.

Watching it again it's quite incredible how often Burke bails us out in defence. The combination of being quick, reading the game well and being an very good defender is a great combination.
I really enjoyed when Marmion took the quick tap and go right next to Burke he just shadows him for 10m, lets Malins make the tackle, commits to the jackal which means Thacker has to clear him then Malins makes the turnover.
There's such a great connection with that set of backs.
Same goes for our attacking shape. Momentum was kept fairly often by great hands by Burke, Malins and also Tompkins when taking poor passes.

Enjoyed the Van-Zyl snipe from our half that probably gets a reward with a better kick selection from Elliott.
Good to see the later back though and he was great under the high ball. It's going to be hard to get game time for all those young backs.

It feels like we're probably more likely to offer Farrell another season than give Burke a new contract but we could really do with tying him down for the next two/three seasons. Lots of pieces are coming together in the backs but he, Hartley and Malins have been transformative for our attack.

But I thought you loved Farrell?

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#wolfpack1
To be fair, I’m not sure Farrell coming on was the cause of the shutting up shop - I think he came on because the modus for the rest of the game was just to boot it away and defend

That's definitely fair.
I think we all get it. It's fundamentally sound to get Bristol to play out from their half rather than to overplay in ours but as you say it feels like the sort of thing that might not work against the better teams and then once you've switched to the "closing the game down" mindset if you suddenly need to chase it that can be a problem.

Fingers crossed we have one or more of Riccioni/Street available for Glos. It's a real shame that Williams took a knock but selfishly probably quite good for us although I'd have liked to see the Williams/Bracken head to head.

I have only seen the highlights as I was playing cricket yesterday but Burke’s running threat really does make a difference in opening up defences. Great to see some of the pieces coming together in attack and nice to see a smile on McCall’s face after what has been a very tough season for the coaches.
Let’s hope Bath do us a massive favour this afternoon and beat Exeter.

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jimfitz12
This feels like an opportunity for Isikewe to turn up and put in a statement performance with Theo being out for the birth of his child this week. Clearly talented, but haven’t really seen him lay down a performance in a few seasons. Backing him to show up!

He was brilliant! Big tackles and line out steals. Back to his best!

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#wolfpack1
To be fair, I’m not sure Farrell coming on was the cause of the shutting up shop - I think he came on because the modus for the rest of the game was just to boot it away and defend.
As above, I don’t think it was the right play and against better teams it won’t work. We just aren’t good enough or physical enough to defend against Bath or Saints for 40 mins.

I think our best approach is just to keep going and cause some chaos.

I didnt see it as booting the ball away. Most of the crossfield and box kicks were contestable. I also felt Ravouvou was lucky to get away with not really competing and playing Noahs hands as he came back down.

Most of Bristol's 22 entries were coming from midfield penalties and we were lucky that Jordan's kicking to touch was so poor. Choosing not to overplay in the midfield with a 2 score lead was the sensible move.

The crossfield kicks to Noah meant that, even though he couldn't quite hold on, Bristol had to play from their 22 which we backed our defense to manage. They also lead to the penalty and yellow that sealed the game.

Out of the top 6 sides Bristol are probably the most dangerous from deep in their own half and we dealt with them fairly easily.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026:05:10:10:24:19 by Sarrov.

Why on earth has Hartley not been playing 12 all year when he’s been fit

Caluori is incredibly brave in how he goes up for the ball but I think the referees need to work harder at protecting him and all players who compete against the type of Arundell tactic of simply over-running and taking his space with no real intention of catching the ball. It has the potential to be pretty dangerous for Caluori if they allow it to continue.

Shame he couldn't get a try. Hopefully the next couple of games will give him more opportunities. We owe Quins a bit of a tuning so a double Caluori hat-trick would be perfect!

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jimfitz12

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jimfitz12
This feels like an opportunity for Isikewe to turn up and put in a statement performance with Theo being out for the birth of his child this week. Clearly talented, but haven’t really seen him lay down a performance in a few seasons. Backing him to show up!

He was brilliant! Big tackles and line out steals. Back to his best!

Crucial try saver on Fitz Harding in the first half too.

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PaulHerox
I thought in amongst the really strong performances Bracken's was very mixed. His inability to adapt to being charged down showed his inexperience although maybe in that situation when he's struggling it needs a senior player to sort things out. Still generally a big positive though and some of his passing in the first half was top.

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TommyKentish
Agree the gameplan to switch it up came too early for comfort but it wasn’t a Faz thing, it started immediately after half time.

We kept attacking the first ten minutes after half time just things didn't stick.
As soon as Farrell came on we started playing ten man rugby (and that's being generous) with initially pedestrian play down the line and then sending Caluori after four successive box-kicks into the sun with our limited attacking ball.

I think that’s overly generous on our play straight after half time, I’ve just re-watched that phase now and Bracken has passed to the backs 3 times between half time and Faz coming on and just once to Burke.The vast majority of his actions are box kicks or passes to static forward pods, even on the rare times we had crept into their half. The game plan very clearly shifted at half time to one of containment and Faz continued that once he came on. If our one and only plan was to kick to Caluori at that point (I’d rather it wasn’t to be clear) then I’d prefer Farrell on to execute than Burke.

Think the shop was pretty well shut up before Owen came on. Bristol’s defence in the second half far more intense than it was in the first which played a part. A bit worrying how Charlie’s kicking fell off a cliff in the second half after a brilliant first 40 from him.
Some great attack from us against woeful defence, sadly we kept giving them ways back in by dropping restarts and the Jamie throw on half time could have changed the game for the worse.

Lam talked in his post-match interview about how they'd shown the players some video on how we were manipulating the defence to make them less connected off launch plays and how happy he was that they'd taken that on board - and that's just one of those things for us this year. If we can get over the gainline, we're pretty good at scoring. If we can't then we do seem to find it difficult to do anything that's more positive than 'give the ball back in the least advantageous spot possible'. It's part of what makes us this years 'bad good' team (as opposed to glos, who I think are a good bad team or northampton and bath who are 'good good' teams). Overall though, I'm very happy with the game yesterday, I thought there was a real chance we'd lose that.

That being said, we're still in it and there's still a chance to beat Bath in the final coming from 4th like 2014/5 ;-)

The result validates the tactics. All season we've been throwing games away late on so it was good to see us tighten up and concentrate on defence second half. If it had continued as a basketball game (as in the first half) we may well have lost.

Defence wins matches - and defence won us ALL of our trophies.

Bath not doing us any favours, seem to be still in Bordeaux.

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TommyKentish
Bath not doing us any favours, seem to be still in Bordeaux.

Deserved win for Exeter, but more evidence that the standard of officiating in this league is beyond a joke

Chiefs have two away matches before us including Leicester, so it’s still on for us but Bath did absolutely nothing to help

Indeed. We win our next two (as we should) and Exeter lose to Tigers (as they could) and it's still all down to that game at Sandy Park.

No one seems to have given Baxter the memo that the way to win from 40 minutes is to try and defend a two score lead. Baths "bomb-squad" kind of neutered by not being given ammunition. Instead Chiefs kept taking the attack to them. Obviously not identical to our situation for a number of reasons not least cards but still interesting to see the difference in approach after our game.

Rubbish result for us but well played Chiefs.
Probably the most interesting thing was neither team played the wind as the pundits would suggest was the conventional way. Although I guess Spencer tried but kept missing touch.
Another no show for Russell in a big game.

Big question is was that the sort of one off result a team can pull or can Chiefs back that up over the next three games. Hopefully we can do our part to make the last game of the season one with something to play for.

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PaulHerox
No one seems to have given Baxter the memo that the way to win from 40 minutes is to try and defend a two score lead.

Not sure if you saw the result, but we also won.

True and that's all we need to do to give ourselves a chance so big tick.
I can still think we'll give teams in Finals too many chances playing that way.

Paul, as an aside I found Alex Goode's latest, on Bath vs Bordeaux absolutely fascinating [alexgoode1.substack.com] especially his point on 'premiership naivety' because I think that whilst he's absolutely spot on about winning in europe and internationally, that that might actually be the way to win in the prem!

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PaulHerox
True and that's all we need to do to give ourselves a chance so big tick.
I can still think we'll give teams in Finals too many chances playing that way.

Fair enough.

Exeter also gave Bath plenty of chances, they just weren't good enough to take them.

The reality is I'm certainly over or under-thinking this.

All we need to do is win. How we get there is unimportant and it's about this season whilst we're still in with a shot, not about how we develop for next.

I think I'm reacting to what I see in some ways as a reversion to how we played earlier this season in maybe not utilising the talent we have on field by reverting to a defensive approach.

I guess think back to the loss against Tigers in the final where we lost confidence in our attack in the first half when it wasn't clicking and then went back to gifting possession away and trying to force mistakes through defence and got properly sucker punched and fear that sort of performance again in a big game.

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nedrichards
Paul, as an aside I found Alex Goode's latest, on Bath vs Bordeaux absolutely fascinating [alexgoode1.substack.com] especially his point on 'premiership naivety' because I think that whilst he's absolutely spot on about winning in europe and internationally, that that might actually be the way to win in the prem!

Thanks nedrichards I read and listened to it and found it interesting but I'm not quite sure what you mean that might actually be the way to win the Prem.

Neither Bath or Exeter played well with the wind but Exeter did play very well against the wind whereas Bath were surprisingly limited. Thinking about it I would have Burke to play 10 into the wind as we look to retain possession but I would choose Farrell to play down wind as his kicking for terrority is still a super strength!

"No one seems to have given Baxter the memo that the way to win from 40 minutes is to try and defend a two score lead."

Not remotely comparable. Bath only scored once in the first half whereas we had already leaked 3 tries and likely to leak several more if we didn't tighten up.

We weren't trying to defend a lead, we were simply trying to DEFEND, which was desperately needed after the first half and much of this season.

Go back and watch some of the games from our glory days. It's a bit of a cliché but there is truth in the suggestion that we played our best rugby without the ball. No-one (except Bordeaux, who have a ridiculous array of talent) wins trophies trying emulate the Harlem Globetrotters.

FGS Baxter and Exeter got where they are by playing a tight, grinding percentages game. Remember when their (and the league's) top try-scorer was a spherical No. 8?

"They say ugly win, boring win, tough win, gutsy win, close win...all I hear is 'win'" - Jacques Burger.

There was 12 points gap in the other game and a 13 point one in ours at half time.
Very comparable situations totally different responses.

We "won" the second half 5-7 purely based on Randall's moment of madness in the dying minutes.
Given we were down a man for 20 minutes the defence did an incredible job but I fear better teams would cause us greater problems especially with us feeding them possession when we're men short.
What won us the game was the lead our attacking play gained us in our first half.

Go back and watch games from the last three seasons. We've lost again and again playing without the ball and trying to defend our way to wins against significantly better attacking sides who end up breaking us down. Then we've given it a lash for the last ten and not been able to claw back the deficits.

Oooof it turns out that Bristol's first half defence at Ashton Gate was just a warm up for Saints at Franklins Gardens.

My wife has told me that she's considering ending our marriage due to my utter obsession with rugby.

I'm begging her for one more try!