In what turned out to be a beautiful late summer day Bristol had the best of the initial exchanges with an early appearance for the familiar catch-and-drive.  This made ‘little' ground but gave Nicky Little the chance to open his competitive Bristol account and he duly obliged with a well taken penalty for 3 - 0 with just three minutes played.  Bristol swept back onto the attack and neat passing saw the hosts go close in the right corner before the ball was passed quickly back inside where Rotherham were again penalised.  Little reacted sharply and his quick tap penalty caught the defence napping and he plunged over the line beneath the posts.  His conversion took Bristol to 10 - 0 and we had only had five minutes played.

Rotherham re-gathered their wits and took advantage of a penalty to work the ball into the Bristol half.  The defence gave away a penalty for not rolling away and it was well struck by Socino to get the visitors on the scoreboard.  A fine break from Burrows took Rotherham right up to the Bristol 22 and the defence had to scramble back into position.  The hosts were still under pressure and Sandford powered his way over for a converted try that tied the score.  Bristol tried to hit back and looked lively as they tried to find a way through.  However, the scrum had some teething problems that the Rotherham scrum-half, Bedford, exploited to steal the ball as it popped out of a wheeling scrum.  Fortunately a good defensive kick from Little saw Bristol back into the Rotherham 22 before yet another penalty at the breakdown allowed him to nudge Bristol three points in front at the start of the second quarter.

Rotherham attempted to put Bristol under pressure and tried to make the most of some frailties that were obvious in the Bristol defence.  They broke upfield through a series of missed tackles before Hepworth, seemingly in the clear, stumbled to the ground from the merest hint of an ankle-tap.  Having survived this scare Bristol took a more direct route to the try line and a good long penalty from Little found touch on the Rotherham five metre line.  The drive went in and James Merriman dropped over the line for an unconverted try but a score of 18 - 10.  Typically Bristol then gave away a difficult penalty chance that bounced off the crossbar back into the field of play and was eventually cleared to touch.

The second half started poorly for Bristol with a knock-on from the restart followed by a penalty that saw Socino make no mistake with just seconds gone.   Bristol strove to hit back and replacement Jamie Miller  made good ground to take play to Rotherham but a turnover saw Bristol forced back onto the defensive.  Two Rotherham players were injured in the attack and Sam Alford ruthlessly exploited the space created to dart free and then feed Sean Marsden for a print down the field.  Sadly his final pass was a very poor one and the chance went begging.  Still, the initiative was Bristol's and they were rewarded with a penalty that Little made look easy despite the tricky gusting wind.  21 - 13 to Bristol.  Not for long though, and Socino sent over a difficult chance to reduce the gap at 21 - 16.  Confident play from Bristol earned another penalty chance for Little and he was unerring.  Playing into the wind Bristol continued to attack with the ball in hand and the referee finally had enough of Rotherham's infringements at the breakdown and Welding saw yellow after 65 minutes played.

Bristol endeavoured to take full advantage of the extra man but the team's inexperience was exposed in a series of poor decisions and an obvious lack of patience (despite a fine cameo from Mako Vunipola as he attempted to dance his way through the defence).   Instead it was Rotherham who were able to clear their lines and get into Bristol's half.  Bristol were harshly penalised but Socino made poor contact with his kick and his effort went wide.  Another chance quickly came his way and he made no error this time and it was 24 - 19 with five minutes left.

Bristol tried to find a way through the aggressive Rotherham defence out on the right wing but were unable to break through.  The ball went from side to side before David Blaney ignored a clear overlap and then knocked-on.  Rotherham managed to survive and another harsh penalty against Bristol allowed the visitors some breathing space.  The referee adjudged the Bristol player who was clearly on his feet to have gone over the top and off his feet.  It was a shockingly poor decision and turned the game against Bristol.  The kick took Rotherham into the Bristol 22 and replacement Mariano Sambucetti was yellow-carded with 80 minutes gone.  It seemed to have been at the vociferous insistence of a member of the Rotherham coaching staff who was well out of the technical area, but what do I know? 

Rotherham saw their chance to at least seize the draw and hammered away at the Bristol line and despite what looked like a couple of clear instances of holding on were able to keep hold of possession.  Confusion now reigned when an injury to Mark Irish saw him forced from the field.  The Rotherham coaching staff were well on the pitch giving advice, despite being ordered back.  Then Matt Salter appeared along with another Rotherham coach, a book was brought on to help matters along (probably showing which Bristol players had been used and could play in the front row) and after utter confusion we saw Dan Norton off, presumably because we had a qualified front row player, although who it was I have no idea. 

Farcical nonsense that saw the referee shamefully lose control of the situation.  When we finally resumed heroic defence was unable to overcome the absence of two players and Dickinson went over for the equalising try.  There was time for more controversy when Socino seemed to start his run up for the conversion, only for the Bristol charge to be waved back and for something similar in his second attempt that took Rotherham to a 24 - 26 win.  Rotherham celebrated with tremendous enthusiasm, more than Exeter managed.  Strange behaviour.

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