By Duncan Wood
October 19 2002

Bristol overturned the odds and defeated a much fancied Montferrand side. Rhys Oakley got the Man of the Match vote but it was a magnificent team performance which will give the Bristol team great heart.

What a superb effort from a Bristol side missing so many players through injury and suspension and taking on the much fancied Montferrand in front of the BBC cameras.

Peter Thorburn sprang a surprise when he named Paul Johnstone at hooker and Andrew Sheridan at prop. Andrew Higgings for Martin Shaw at centre was another change to the previously announced team.

The game went off at a cracking pace and Bristol had an early let off when Gerard Merceron missed a penalty attempt. Olivier Magne seemed to be everywhere in the first 15 minutes whether it be supporting the scrum half's break or benefitting from a short lineout.

However, Montferrand couldn't finish their chances and the Bristol defence was simply superb. One early passage of play saw the Bristol tacklers driving the Montferrand attackers back time after time.

The Bristol efforts were rewarded on 7 minutes when Felipe Contepomi confidently slotted a straight penalty to make it 3-0 and somehow the score remained that way for another 20 minutes. The game was high on excitement but there were also plenty of errors.

Bristol had the majority of territory and wasted some good 5 metre positions but Montferrand always looked a bit dangerous. However, it was the boot of Contepomi that was more accurate than Merceron's as he added further penalties on 26 and 40 minutes to stretch the gap to 9-0 which was the half time score.

Bristol knew that they'd have to weather an early French storm and they looked like they'd done that when the French produced a moment of genius. Phil Christophers had actually found a pretty good touch in the French half but a quickly taken lineout got the backline moving. Felipe Contepomi couldn't quite make the tackle and David Bory went outside him and then cut inside Drahm and Higgins to go over. Merceron added the conversion.

The French now hammered away at Bristol but the defence was awesome. Montferrand couldn't edge themselves in fornt and it was Bristol who added the next score.

The ball was moved right in the Montferrand 22 and Shane Drahm looked as if he was going to pop the ball to Lee Best who was steaming into the line. Instead, Drahm shimmied to his left and avoided crossing with Best before accelerating through the gap and touching down. Contepomi surprisingly hooked his conversion. 14-7.

The Bristol joy was shortlived. Only 2 minutes later, the French produced a superb backs move. The right winger sped into the line and his pace was too much for the despairing tackle of Mike Lipman. He offloaded (although it looked forward) and more intelligent lines of running put Tony Marsh into the corner. Merceron missed the conversion to leave the score at 14-12.

Felipe added a penalty on 66 minutes to stretch the lead before producing his trademark mixture of genius coupled with a little bit of luck. Bory tried to chip over the defensive line from his own 22 but Contepomi grabbed the kick and angled his run away from the cover to touch down. His conversion made it 24-12.

The French were now at the point of desperation and scored a scrappy late try through Sudre when Bristol should really have cleared to touch. Sadourney's conversion was the last kick and made it 24-19 at the whistle.

It was a great team performance. The defence was scarily committed despite giving away 3 tries. The revamped pack help up really well and our back row were everywhere.

Pichot and Contepomi produced their usual big games and Higgins and Gibson looked a good centre partnership. The back 3 didn't get much attacking ball but did a great defensive job.

But today was all about character and Bristol had it in spades. They could easily have folded under some early French pressure but gutsed it out.

Finally, special mentions for Rhys Oakley who showed great composure and was a deserved man of the match and also Paul Johnstone who did a solid job at hooker despite his lack of experience there.