The opening 8 minutes saw Bristol's youngsters playing with confidence, shipping the ball wide and looking threatening with ball in hand. On his return from injury, James Merriman opened the scoring with a fine try after 5 minutes. Collecting an overthrown line out stand off Chris Ashwin moved the ball quickly to Merriman who showed a deceptive turn of speed which allowed him to touch down under the posts. Ashwin converted 7 nil.

Things looked even brighter 3 minutes later when a driving maul made ten yards before the backs joined the party. Luke Eves, playing in the unfamiliar position of winger, linked with Jack Adams who promptly scored try number two with only 8 minutes on the clock. 12 nil.

At this point, I, and I suspect many others thought that a try fest would follow. Coventry, with their off field problems this season surely wouldn't have the stomach for the fight. WRONG.

A combination of basic errors, missed tackles, not playing to the whistle and several moments of hesitation allowed Coventry to string some phases together. They picked up their game, organised themselves much better and began picking and driving. Surprisingly Bristol seemed unable to counter this very basic game plan and Coventry grew in confidence.

A period of sustained pressure resulted in Darren Barry being yellow carded for failing to roll away from the tackle area. The loss of a lock was the cue for Coventry to continually take the scrum over the penalty points on offer. This tactic finally paid dividends when, despite a gallant effort by the Bristol pack, the Coventry scrum half broke from the back of the 5 meter scrum before linking with Benjamin Ponds who ran in for the try. 12-5.

Some solid defence, including a try saving tackle by Jack Adams, coupled with Bristol's willingness to try to run everything from the back resulted in some heart stopping moments. However the option of running the ball and getting turned over was putting Bristol under pressure close to their own line and soon after Darren Barry returned from the bin, Ian Grieve got the opportunity of keeping his seat warm!

Down to 14 men for the second time, Bristol's defensive resistance eventually crumbled when Coventry's number eight Aaron Carpenter broke from another 5 meter scrum to slide over the line. Apikotoa again missed the kick, 12-10.

Half time, and who knows what was said but it certainly seemed to do the trick.

Magic Man David Blainey replaced Ross Johnson and almost made an immediate impact. Right from the kick off he was popping up everywhere, signalling a change in attitude from the Bristol players.

Managing to put a few phases together, forwards carrying well and backs moving the ball was starting to test the Coventry defence. This pressure only being released by one of the moments of the match.

Mako Vunipola, certainly a star of the future, showed very quick feet for a prop, sidestepping the first would be tackler. He then delivered the most outrageous hand off seen at The Mem for a while to despatch the second would be tackler before barging his way through Coventry's 22 and driving for the line with 3 defenders hanging onto him. Ashwin converted, 19-10.

This piece of individual brilliance seemed to galvanise the home side who began to put Coventry under more and more pressure, which in turn resulted in basic errors from the visitors. None more so than the Coventry player who caught a clearance, on his own 10 metre line with both feet off the ground, thinking it had been kicked out on the full.

The fact that the ball had been passed back into the Bristol 22 before the clearance meant that had he caught the ball with one foot on and the other foot off the pitch Coventry would have been awarded a line out inside the Bristol 22. Instead, from the resulting line out on Coventry's 10 metre line, Chris Ashwin ran a great line, hitting Coventry's defensive line at speed before offloading to James Merriman, also running a great line, who broke clear and outpaced the Coventry back line for his second try. Ashwin converted, 26-10.

Coventry did not let their heads drop and fully deserved their third try. A series of poor decisions and even poorer passes by Bristol players gifted possession to Coventry who seized their chance and released Chris Lewis. Lewis broke down the wing and, just about, stayed in field despite Jack Tovey's excellent chase and last ditch tackle. Another couple of yards and Jack Tovey would probably have tackled him into touch. As it was it certainly seemed to do Jack's confidence a power of good as he put in some deft touches thereafter.

The two Academy players who really shone today, Mako Vunipola and Jack Tovey combined well. After a totally committed chase by Roy Winters and a well gathered up and under from Sam Alford, Tovey broke on the wing and offloaded to Vunipola who looked set for his second try. Driving for the line, again with defenders hanging off of him like Xmas tree decorations, the try was denied only by the "held-up" signal from referee Lewis. A series of 5 reset scrums eventually saw Bristol awarded a penalty try after Coventry persistently collapsed. Replacement fly-half Sam Giddens added the conversion. 33-15

On 72 minutes Mako Vunipola left the field to a well deserved standing ovation. An excellent performance from a young man with a very bright future, well done Mako.

By now Coventry were looking tired but battled to the end, a knock on from Coventry gifted Dan Montagu possession, he outsprinted the defensive line and had a mere 60 metres to reach the try line when referee Lewis decided not to play the advantage after all and stopped play for a Bristol scrum? This wasn't the only baffling decision of the afternoon.

With Coventry tiring Bristol were now running the ball from everywhere and a final try, a well deserved score for George Watkins, duly arrived. Despite not making the most of earlier opportunities, his efforts were rewarded when a superb break from Tovey, followed by a sublime offload out of contact, gave Watkins the chance to sprint over the line. Giddens converted, final score 40-15.

All in all a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon which gave many of the Academy players the opportunity to show what they can do, which they duly did.

Full marks to them for stepping up to the plate, full marks to Hully for giving them that chance, and full marks to the Academy staff for getting them ready to take that chance.

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