Getting the ball away

By Ian Todd
September 29 2013

An excellent first half performance essentially took the game away from Jersey.  The display was as sharp and exciting as any Bristol have managed for several seasons.  The lines of running in the first period were a cut above anything the hosts could manage.  One specatator said that Bristol looked the best side seen at the ground in two years, other than Leicester!

I have no idea what happened in the first few minutes of the game as I was still stuck in a lengthy queue outside.  I suppose I could have got there rather earlier but I had a very impressive lunch at Bohemia in St Helier (which I recommend very highly, if you’re ever over there for a break, or, heaven forbid, we are still in this nonsense league for yet another season.  £19.95 for the Saturday lunch menu at a Michelin starred restaurant.  Even the wine was very reasonably priced.) .  It sounded like Ruki Tipuna was over within a couple of minutes, and the second must have come from a quickly taken penalty judging from the cries of the supporters.  This was claimed by Tristan Roberts, who was unable to convert.  So Bristol were already 0 – 12 up before I even got into the ground!

Finally able to see what was going on, Jersey looked enterprising enough, not like a side that found itself well behind after just minutes of play.  Bristol were penalised and the kick went to touch.  The lineout was overthrown and Bristol were quickly back down into the hosts’ half.  Unable to fashion the ball was knocked-on and Jersey managed to struggle their way back into Bristol territory.  However, a common theme of the half, Jersey lost the ball in contact and the visiting side took full advantage.  Tipuna was first to react and hacked the ball downfield, the attempt to re-gather appeared rather farcical as neither the defence nor Tipuna could get hands on the ball.  No matter, as Tipuna showed why the game is called Rugby Football when he kicked the ball downfield again.  This time he managed to get hold of the ball, and the ball went to the impressive Roberts who crossed beneath the posts.  His conversion took the score to 0 – 19, Bristol scoring at more than a point a minute.

Jersey surely had to hit back soon if the game wasn’t to be beyond them even at this early stage.  They strove manfully to do so but their inability to keep hold of the ball put paid to their initial efforts.  However a good tactical kick saw Bristol pushed to the edge of their 22.  Jersey went through several patient phase before knocking on without making any progress.  The Touch Judge had been flagging since the lineout and after the officials conferred Iain Grieve was rightly shown a yellow card for tackling a man in the air at the lineout.    Jersey’s initial effort to drive from the lineout was a total mess, but Bristol’s respite was a brief one.  A penalty went against them and O’Connor slotted his side’s first points.

The long restart from Roberts was clumsily dropped 10 metres out, but a 7 man Bristol pack (that already had shown some frailties in the scrum, including one against the head when the ball remained static in the front row before the Jersey hooker suddenly realised he was allowed to, well, hook!) could not cope with the well-drilled Jersey forwards.  They attempted to keep things tight whilst Bristol were a man down, but Grieve was able to return to the pitch without Jersey further troubling the scoreboard before the half ended.

Bristol started the second half in emphatic style.  A lovely short pass from Roberts to George Watkins allowed the winger to cut a great line though the defence before feeding Ryan Edwards who escaped the despairing last ditch tackle attempt to dot the ball down under the post for the converted bonus point try.  And that was essentially the game taken away from the hosts.  To have any hope they had to start scoring tries quickly.  The Jersey pack rumbled close from a lineout to the Bristol line but were held out by stalwart defence.  They probed for a hole in the defensive line before a well-struck cross-field kick freed Dawson to go in out wide on the left.  An excellent kick from O’Connor narrowed the gap to 10 – 26.  Was an unlikely comeback on the cards?

Both teams seemed unable to impose any real pattern on the game at this point and the first drops of what proved to be a deluge started to fall.  At which moment, of course, my notebook was forced to retreat from the field of play, so I have to rely on memory.  Oh dear.

The Jersey pack continued to impress as Selway was bundled over from close range.  The converted try took the score to 17 – 26.  A penalty would give the hosts a losing bonus point.  Instead, it was Bristol who had rather the better of the closing exchanges with Marco Mama freed up for an unopposed run at the line, only to be called back for a forward pass, much to the disgust of replacement Nicholas Robinson (as he was announced – for a moment I didn’t know who was meant).  The pass wasn’t forward, but there had been one earlier in the move so things had evened out.  Jersey had a last ditch penalty attempt, but O’Connor had to sacrifice accuracy for range and it was agonisingly wide of the posts.  The Bristol pack continued to battle away with their opponents before replacement Callum Braley hoofed the ball into touch with time up.