In poor conditions, and after some initial, inconclusive probing by both sides, the game got off to a surprisingly good start. Bristol drove into the Gloucester 22 and Brian O’Riordan sent an awkward chip over the disorganised defenders. Gloucester failed to gather the ball, Dan Ward-Smith seized it and the supporting players gathered round, the ball was popped up into the hands of Mark Regan, who had little time to think (fortunately), and he drove over in the corner. Surprisingly the referee asked for the TMO, but the replay on the big screen showed what everyone in Idiot’s Corner already knew. The difficult conversion attempt was narrowly wide, but it was 5 – 0 to Bristol with just five minutes gone. Both sides attempted to play constructive rugby, despite the conditions and Bristol maintained their early pressure. A neat grubber kick from David Hill led to confusion in the Gloucester ranks, only for the referee to signal that Bristol players had been in front of the kicker. The big screen replay showed all too clearly that the decision was a harsh one. Bristol were not to be denied though and Hill kicked the home side further in front with a great penalty when Gloucester were penalised at a ruck. 8 – 0 with a quarter of an hour played.

Gloucester swiftly attempted to hit back and Allen made a good break but his clever pass was knocked on by a runner not quite on his wavelength. Still Gloucester went through the phases and eventually Bristol gave away a penalty in kickable range for Walker to make it 8 – 3. He soon had another chance but his kick was judged to have gone wide. Bristol then had their turn to attack by way of another awkward kick through and, just as it looked as if Bristol had run out of options, David Hill was able to hit a fine drop goal to nudge Bristol further ahead at 11 – 3.

Just a few minutes later Bristol were dealt a blow when Rob Higgitt was harshly sin-binned apparently for not rolling away. Probably it was the result of the referee’s patience finally snapping, because he had had words with the Bristol captain shortly before. More ominously, Dave Hilton also had to leave the field injured. Walker made short work of the penalty to narrow the gap to 11 – 6. Worse was to come when yet another penalty went against Bristol just before half-time and Walker made no mistake to leave it at 11 – 9.

Bristol , doubtless, intended to take advantage of the conditions in the second half with the wind behind them. Instead, Gloucester applied the early pressure. Fortunately, it was their turn to earn the referee’s ire and penalties gave Bristol the chance to move back downfield. Hill had a chance to kick for goal but was unable to judge the gusting wind and was wide with the attempt. Ward-Smith then made a fantastic run. He gathered the drop-out and put in a mazy, powerful surge through the Gloucester defence for perhaps 40 or 50 metres. Bristol were unable to make any scoring opportunity though. Gloucester too had chances. A kick down the left touchline ran into the Bristol 22 and Lee Robinson, with the Gloucester chasers bearing down, hacked the ball dead to concede a five metre scrum. Given the conditions it looked threatening, but the Bristol pack were up to the challenge and drove Gloucester off the ball. The front rows stood up and the penalty went to Bristol.

Astonishingly virtually the same thing happened again just a few minutes later. This time Robinson was not so closely pursued, but he either got no call from the full-back, or did not hear him and again kicked the ball dead. The crowd’s reaction in Idiot’s Corner was not positive. This was surely a factor in Robinson’s surprising decision to attempt to charge down the penalty kick that Gloucester soon won (surely he isn’t old enough to have played, or even seen, when you could do that?).

It went over and gave, with 76 minutes gone, Gloucester what looked like the winning points at 11 – 12. The referee would have been in his rights to award a penalty to Gloucester from the restart, but he contented himself with some calming words to the Bristol winger.

With the clock counting down Bristol produced one of the most amazing pieces of controlled play I have ever seen. Phase after phase saw Bristol hold onto the ball and gain territory, I was shouting for the referee to give us a penalty for something, anything, when the ball was suddenly whipped out to the fly-half. To my surprise I saw that Jason Strange was on, having completely missed him coming on some ten minutes earlier. To my even greater surprise, with the clock on zero he slammed the ball over for what may have been his first drop goal for Bristol ! This despite the weather and the efforts of Alex Brown to charge it down. What a finish to a titanic struggle that saw Bristol leapfrog Gloucester to take the top spot in the league.

In all honesty I had this down as a loss for Bristol . Gloucester looked to have been playing the best rugby of the teams we have faced so far, but Bristol coped admirably with the conditions, defended fantastically and had the professionalism and skill to retain possession and make it count. And as for Jason Strange! Dropped to the bench with the arrival of David Hill; he was able to come on in difficult circumstances and give the lie to my comment that we had the only Welsh fly-half who can’t kick drop goals. Who would have thought that Bristol would top the league at this stage of the season? Although I never had us down as relegation candidates (for the record I had them as B**h, Harlequins and Newcastle ) I certainly never expected us to be in this position. All credit to the coaches and players. Things to work on? I still worry about our kicking from hand and touch finding and our decision-making is sometimes lacking, but our defence has been outstanding and the preseason fitness work is clearly paying dividends. Now let’s see what the team can do in Europe and the EDF.