Bristol commenced with a deceptive lineout win but were then, as was to prove all too typical, promptly turned over.  However, Bristol were soon on the scoresheet when Luke Arscott fielded a poor Worcester kick and made good ground, the ball was flipped out to Tom Arscott who made a quick break and then chipped the defence.  The Worcester defence committed the cardinal sin of allowing the ball to bounce and Tarscott nipped in to seize the ball, outpace Delport and go over in the corner.  Jason Strange was just wide with his conversion attempt, but Bristol led 0 - 5.

At this point things looked shaky for Worcester but it was Bristol's game that fragmented.  The familiar lineout failings came to the fore and virtually guaranteed Worcester possession.  Inevitably this led to the award of a kickable penalty and Crichton obliged to narrow the gap to 3 - 5.  If Crichton had made other, straightforward, kicks the scoreline would have been even less flattering to Bristol.  Bristol had the chance to restore the gap after Larscott, chipping the Worcester chasers was very obviously shoulder charged.  The penalty was from where the ball landed, just on the edge of Strange's range.  He was on target, but just short.

As the half drew to a close Sean Hohneck was harshly penalised for deliberate knock on when it actually looked like a charge down.  This gave Worcester the chance to establish some territory but they were unable to fashion a scoring chance.  So, the half ended with Worcester looking like a team lacking confidence following a long losing streak and Bristol looking like a side that couldn't win a lineout and conceding turnovers that a less nervous side would have exploited.

The second half started ominously for Bristol with nasty looking injury to Mark Regan, although, it has to be said, his contribution had been less than stellar. Scott Linklater came on and, though the lineout continued to misfire, his contribution in the loose was far more significant.  In the meantime Bristol had given away a penalty that gave Worcester a lead of 6 - 5; a lead they were never to relinquish.  Captain Matt Salter then had to make the trudge to the sin-bin accompanied by the 'amusing' strains of "Why, why, why, Delilah" over the PA.  Bristol escaped further punishment when Crichton was well wide with the easy kick.

Down to seven in the pack it was no surprise to see Bristol concede points as Worcester's forwards numerical superiority told.  Sanderson was driven over for a converted try to take Worcester to 13 - 6 and push Bristol out of bonus point range.  All too soon the host's forward power told again and Rawlinson sprinted through a yawning gap for another converted try and a score of 20 - 5.  Lineout failings and turnovers prevented Bristol from getting back into the game. Resorting to running from poor field positions Bristol's attacks were ruthlessly snuffed out and eventually possession was turned over to allow Worcester to get the ball out to Gear who skilfully eluded the defence to score.  This time the conversion was missed but Worcester led 25 - 5 with the game drawing to a close.

Bristol strove with increasing desperation to make a way through the stifling defence.  Replacement Josh Taumalolo, leaving at the end of the season, made some forceful runs through midfield, Anthony Elliott tried to weave a way through and Larscott was again taken out by a shoulder charge as he came close to gathering a nice chip from David Hill.  Given the position close to the line this should have been a yellow card, especially following the earlier one for Salter, but it would surely have made no difference to the result. The game ended with Bristol kicking into touch with 80 minutes up on the clock.

Last season's opener against Worcester saw perhaps Bristol's best performance of that surprising campaign.  This match saw perhaps the worst in a long time.  As my son said: "We did bad".  We have had two recent nil performances and today's game saw Bristol's points come from a combination of good skill and opposition errors.  The lineout has regressed to a shambles with the opposition winning our ball as easily as their own (although admittedly Gillies is an excellent lineout forward and unlucky to have missed out on representative rugby).  The number of turnovers is a problem and our kicking from hand remains poor.  The back row, formerly a strength, is too slow to the breakdown and I fail to see how Alfie To'oala warrants selection ahead of Joe El Abd.  The main concern, however, is our lack of good quality first phase possession and this must be addressed if we are not to be dragged into the relegation dog fight.  We have a couple of weeks to sort this out and I hope it is.  The positives to be drawn?  The continued development of the Arscott brothers is good to see, as is the general performance of our back three whatever the personnel (take that you doubters of Lee Robinson).  Midfield is solid and committed, if unexceptional.  It was also good to see the wholehearted efforts of Josh Taumalolo when he came on.  If he is leaving at the end of the season he shows tremendous dedication to the Bristol cause.  As, I am sure, do the other players.  Let us wish that they will take the lessons of this defeat and forge a new resolution.

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