In bright sunshine, and, for some reason, under floodlights, Bristol kicked off their second Heineken Cup campaign against the Cardiff Blues.  The hosts were soon on the attack and the Bristol defence was quickly outwitted for what looked a stunning early try.  Fortunately for Bristol, play was called back for a forward pass.  Cardiff maintained the pressure but the defence was more switched on than in the opening moments and a Cardiff midfield move petered out in a pretty obvious piece of crossing.  Bristol were unable to make anything of their first possession and allowed Cardiff to get hold of the ball and sweep back into the attack.  Bristol escaped once again when the referee saw that a forward pass had allowed Cardiff to make the incisive break.

So it was against the run of play when Cardiff gave away a penalty that Jason Strange, subjected to some robust  comments from elements in the crowd, calmly struck to take Bristol to a 0 – 3 lead.  Cardiff were almost immediately back on the attack when David Hill struck the ball deep into the Cardiff 22.  Blair, who looked to be the main attacking weapon for Cardiff in the first half, ran the ball back at the Bristol defence and made a good 25 metres.  Scrambling defence from Shaun Perry saw Blair halted and the supporting players did not have the skill of their full back and the promising move was halted by a knock on.  Blair was not to be contained for long and he launched another blistering run that Sean Hohneck just about managed to stop, but only by preventing Blair from releasing the ball and giving away the penalty.  Blair nailed the kick to equalise at 3-all with a quarter of an hour played.

Cardiff again went on the attack and moved down to the Bristol 22.  However, the attacking player was momentarily isolated and possession was turned over.  Unusually. Bristol did not resort to an aimless hoof upfield or to touch.  Rob Higgitt got the ball out to Perry who passed to Tom Arscott out on the far right wing.  He had little space but danced down the line as the defenders converged.  He was forced to chip ahead and chase.  Cardiff’s Robinson, in his own 22, flapped at the awkwardly bouncing ball and contrived to send it neatly into full back David Hill’s grasp.  He looked around for support but actually did not need any as he went in untouched beneath the posts.  Strange duly converted and Bristol held a surprising 10 – 3 lead.  Cardiff responded with yet another good looking attack that broke down to allow Perry a chance to hammer a kick way downfield.  Bristol seized the attacking chance and put the Cardiff line under pressure.  The defence held out, but only by entering the ruck from the side and the penalty went to touch.  Again Bristol pounded at the line before switching play wide and then knocking on.  The referee had been playing a long advantage though and this time  Bristol went for the kick at goal that Strange tucked away for a 13 – 3 lead.  At the time I thought it the wrong decision unless the referee had said that time was up.  Bristol looked to be achieving at least parity in the scrum and surely the attacking scrum would have been the better option?  With two penalties already, a sin-binning or even penalty try might have been on the cards.  I was proved right when Cardiff got the ball down into the Bristol 22 and a Lee Robinson clearance was almost charged down.  The familiar lineout failings were again evident as Cardiff claimed the ball following the Bristol throw.  The ball was chipped over the poorly aligned defence and Jamie Robinson latched on to the ball to score.  Blair converted and it was 10 – 13 at half time.

The half time score reflected the balance of play much more fairly than 3 – 13 would have done.  The latter score might also have forced Cardiff into some changes in their style of play rather than allowing them to continue with the same pattern as before.  Alas, it was not to be.  Initially, however, it looked good for Bristol in the second half as Bristol fashioned some good opportunities and pummelled away round the fringes.  The Cardiff pack were forced into conceding another penalty but Strange was unable to make it count as he kicked well wide of the posts.  This was the last Bristol were to see of the ball for quite some while.  The Cardiff forwards were able to take the ball on and organised a series of drives into their opposite numbers.  Bristol were, almost inevitably, penalised at the breakdown and Blair levelled the scores with just over 50 minutes gone.  Bristol were under great pressure and it told when Darren Crompton, who looks to have been on a pie-habilitation diet, was shown the yellow card for a marginal high tackle on Shanklin.  From the screen in the corner it looked like one of those high-on-the-chest-tackles where the lack of a firm grip and the ‘tackled’ player’s forward momentum contrive to drag the arm up to the neck.  Certainly a penalty and maybe a card, although Hohneck received similar treatment and nothing was given (and given his height it makes the high tackle even more difficult!).

Blair’s penalty kick only just had the legs to hit the padding of the upright, but with Bristol a man down it looked like a tough ten minutes was coming up.  So it was to prove.  Cardiff battered away at the Bristol defence and resorted to a grubber kick into touch that Perry was just about able to dab down.  Hill failed to clear the drop-out and Cardiff were back on the attack.  The ball went out left and Cardiff had a three to two overlap.  Blair took it on and was just short following a last-ditch tackle from Arscott ably assisted by Higgitt.  The Cardiff support piled in and it was no surprise when the referee raised his arm to indicate a try.  What was a surprise was to see from the replay on the big screen that the ball was obviously knocked on before being touched down.  If the referee was in the right place to see the touch down he must have seen the knock on; if he was unable to see the knock on he must have been unsighted and ought to have asked the TMO to adjudicate.  This is especially galling when we often see referees call for the TMO when it is blindingly obvious that a try has been scored and yet he did not do so at this crucial point.  In any event, the conversion was well struck by Blair and Cardiff were in a 20 – 13 lead.  This score seemed to badly affect Bristol and still down to 14 men they struggled to wrest the initiative back from Cardiff.

Almost immediately following the restart a rather casual series of passes saw Cardiff back down to the Bristol 22 and the depleted defence sucked into a ruck.  Suddenly the ball popped out to the left and an almost embarrassing number of attackers took on the lone defender.  The hint of a dummy from Martyn Williams transfixed the defender and Williams loped over the line without being touched.  The conversion was a formality and it was 27 – 13.  Williams was shortly back over the Bristol line for the converted bonus point try as the overworked Bristol defence crumbled to allow Cardiff to an unassailable 34 – 13 lead.  With Cardiff relaxed Bristol were now able to claim possession for virtually the first time in the half.  They patiently worked their way into the Cardiff half with Perry making some good breaks from the ruck or maul and, crucially, being well supported so that the ball carrier never became isolated.  Finally the ball went along the line from right to left with a long pass setting Arscott free out wide to dive over for a deserved try.  The conversion attempt was the final kick of the game and was well off target for a final score of 34 – 18.

A disappointing performance from the Bristol team.  We looked off the pace, particularly in the second half.  We appeared to struggle in getting the ball away from the breakdown with Perry unable or reluctant to get the ball out quickly.  In contrast the second half saw some typically powerful breaks from the scrum half, sadly when it was too late to make any real difference.  Earlier we also saw breaks that broke down when the Bristol support players were too far from ball carrier.  A particular example was a lovely break from Andrew Blowers which saw him outpace the defence and, troublingly, his own side.  A similar pattern was seen throughout the afternoon.  Irritatingly some aspects of the play looked good amidst the general disatisfaction.  Tom Arscott showed why he has forced his way into the starting line-up.  Lee Robinson too continues to show the doubters how much progress he has made.  It was also good to see Bristol score their first try from turnover ball in their own half.  Onwards to Stade Francais at home.