Plymouth kicked off in the initially bright, chilly and windy conditions.  The ball was well taken but Adrian Jarvis' clearance kick was charged down to cause some concern in the ranks.  However, it was Plymouth who suffered the same indignity soon after when an attempted drop goal was charged down by Jack Adams.  Sadly he was unable to capitalise on the opportunity.  Under pressure, Bristol manage to get hold of the ball and Dan Montague drove up well but was penalised when the support was too slow in arriving.  Plymouth made an excellent touch to keep up the pressure on Bristol.  Jarvis was harried into a poor kick that handed the hosts a five metre lineout.  Bristol gave away a penalty but the kick at goal was off target.  Still, Plymouth maintained their dominance of territory and possession, putting together several phases of play.  An attempted clearance kick went straight to touch from outside the 22 to hand the advantage to Plymouth.  Bristol dealt with the danger and a long, high kick allowed Luke Arscott to feed brother Tom who raced away and chipped the covering defence.  He fell to the ground as he tried to collect the ball and Plymouth were penalised for tripping him.  It looked more as if he had stumbled on the dip in the turf where the 10 metre line runs.  Bristol went for touch and Plymouth were penalised at the lineout.  Bristol boldly chose to go for touch again and execute the catch and drive.  Plymouth had no answer to the power and control of the Bristol pack and James Phillips was driven over to the right of the posts.  Jarvis was surprisingly wide with his conversion effort, but Bristol led 0 - 5 from virtually their first visit to the Plymouth half after 12 minutes of play.

Plymouth tried to hit back and a fine kick took play right into the Bristol 22 but Bristol just about managed to clear the danger.  Plymouth were penalised and the sharp looking Jason Spice took a quick tap and made good ground before launching a tricky grubber kick.  Tarscott raced onto the ball but the Plymouth scrum-half was just able to touch down as the ball went to the right corner.  Bristol were awarded a penalty from the ensuing scrum and rightly chose to scrum again.  Then they were awarded a free kick, and scrummed again.  With the referee swapping sides at the scrum, this time it was Bristol penalised and the opportunity was lost.  Bristol tried to exploit the briefly shaken Plymouth defence and Dan Norton raced away before being halted.  At the ruck Plymouth were really obviously in at the side, but got away with it and kicked down to the Bristol 22 where Bristol gave away a penalty that was missed.  Plymouth attempted to recover their earlier momentum and a bout of aimless aerial ping-pong was the result before Plymouth settled back into their game.  Bristol were able to absorb the pressure as the sky darkened and rain threatened.  Bristol were again penalised right in front of the posts but the Plymouth fly-half was once more off-target to let Bristol off the hook.

Not for long, however.  Missed tackles permitted Plymouth to drive up to the Bristol line and something untoward led to Phillips receiving a yellow card and finally some points on the board for the hosts: 3 - 5 with half time beckoning.  With Bristol down to 14 men Plymouth seemed to slacken their concentration.  Junior Fatialofa made a good break and fed Larscott out on the left wing.  The defence regrouped to bring him to a halt but Spice, swapping places with Jarvis, was fed the ball from the ruck and he romped over with hardly a hand laid on him.  Jarvis converted for a 3 - 12 half time lead.

With the rain coming down heavily at half time my notebook was rendered rather soggy and my notes for the second half are rather scant, so I apologise for the quality of the reporting of the second half.

Despite starting the half with a man down, Bristol had the better of the initial exchanges and looked positive.  Plymouth coped well and were able to take the game back to Bristol.  A cunning kick down to right corner allowed Plymouth to break free and Larscott was forced into a last ditch tackle to prevent a try.  He turned his man in the tackle but was yellow-carded for failing to roll away.  Judging from his expression as he walked off he was unsurprised at the decision, although I've always felt that the laws aren't quite right in this situation.  This time Plymouth kept up the pressure on the depleted Bristol defence which was outflanked for the winger to cross for an unconverted try and a score of 8 - 12 with 14 minutes gone.

Bristol were undeterred by this reverse and for a second time scored when down to 14.  They strung together some good play in the backs and Plymouth gave away a penalty.  The resulting lineout went Bristol's way and the forwards drove over for a try for, I was told, David Blaney.  Jarvis converted and Bristol extended their lead to 8 - 19.  Jarvis had the chance to take Bristol further ahead a couple of minutes with a penalty from halfway.  Unfortunately, as last week, the wind that he had counted on died at the last instant and his effort fell short.  Plymouth clearly felt they were still in the hunt and tried to take play back to Bristol.  However, with ten minutes left to go, they knocked on and Larscott seized the loose ball to speed over for the bonus point try.  Jarvis again converted and Bristol looked good with a score of 8 - 26.  There was no way back for the hosts when, just five minutes later Bristol took the ball into midfield and Phillips powered over for his second try and a final score of 8 - 33.

Plymouth had largely dominated the first half and, unusually, Bristol came away with points from virtually every visit to the hosts' half.  The second half, played in poor conditions, saw Bristol turn things around to ruthlessly exploit opposition errors.  The final score was perhaps flattering, but Bristol deserved the victory.  Things can still improve, the lineout was occasionally overcomplicated and the defence was lax in a few instances.  Still, a good away win in difficult conditions.

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