Welcome to the rugby thoughts of a Bristol Bears fan!
Bears sign a reality cheque as Falcons feed at the Bristol food bank
At the end of a week when the UK Government appeared to consign fiscal prudence to the history books, Bristol Bears enacted their own kind of meltdown by flushing possession rugby down the toilet in spectacularly poor fashion. It was less a run on the pound and more a stumble…
Top gun Sheedo leads Bears to a mission once thought impossible after early Tom Cruse try
The Bears continued their pleasing start to the season by overcoming a physical yet fatally flawed Wasps side who surrendered their 22-year home stranglehold in a flurry of dropped balls, knock-ons and forward passes. It was a much improved performance by Bristol after the harum scarum of the west country…
After Faffing around at the AJ Bell it’s time for glory at the Gate
Saturday’s game was a microcosm of our season. On one hand there was plenty of effort and endeavour, with bodies put on the line for the cause, but on the other a load of Shakespearean-level huff and puff that signified virtually nothing in terms of end product, with the whole…
Pitching like Apprentice candidates: Bristol look more likely to be fired than hired after defeat at Sixways
When Premier Rugby’s twitter feed published the current table after this weekend’s fixtures, they declared that we are now approaching the ‘business end’ of the season. Seventeen down and nine to go. As such, it seems like a good time to glance over Bristol’s interim performance accounts and try to…
Bears related navel gazing – the season so far…
In a week when the country appears to be descending back down into Christmas cancelling Covid related misery, the only current crumb of comfort offered to rugby starved Bears fans is the fact that the Premiership is rolling back into town and we won’t be playing any Welsh or French…
Blackbird not heard as Bears’ flair is discounted on Black Friday
After reaching relative rugby heights in the last two seasons, it feels like this time round we are still struggling to get out of the foothills. We know in which direction we want to go but don’t quite have the advanced map reading skills required to get us there. As…
Brain fog on the Tyne is not fine
After the nerve shredding anti-thrills of the visit to the Stoop, a long journey to Newcastle actually felt like a good thing. I mean, the Falcons aren’t a bad side, but it was hard to believe that they would rip the Bears to shreds in the same way Quins did…
Alas, Smith and Groans
The second half at the Stoop descended into comedy last Friday as the Harlequins wonderkid, Marcus Smith, swaggered off the bench to insert yet more misery into the Bears’ fragile psyche. By fronting a forty-five point hostile take-over of their half time lead he administered what can only be described as a corporate shellacking and if Bristol had been a public listed company, they would have been liquidated before the game was…
Bears Sinck Bath in a Splashtown Gate thriller!
In the area of geopolitics, countries strive to maintain and develop strategic advantage over each other by exerting a combination of what’s known in the business as hard and soft power. Hard power means getting your way by force whereas soft means by the power of persuasion. In a similar…
All rigs and no filth as Wasps demolish Bears at the Coventry Building Society Stadium
When your team’s warm up is by far the most clinical part of the match and Max Lahiff is top of the try scoring chart after two games, then you know it hasn’t been the best start to the season. Bristol followed their opening day defeat against a suffocating Saracens…
A Friday night showdown of high kicks and rare flicks is Strictly average
In the recent fans’ Q&A Pat described how he wanted players to develop ‘atomic habits’ by Year five of his tenure. Unfortunately, the second half on Friday revealed them to be more Atomic Kitten, as the scrum rolled over and got its tummy tickled by the remorseless Saracens wolfpack who…
Bristol Bears emerge from pre-season hibernation hoping to avoid a Friday night Feztival of filth
When Jesus spent 40 days and 40 nights in the desert to prepare for his ministry and resist the temptations of the devil it was a pretty decent effort. But it was nothing compared to the 98 with which Bears fans have had to endure since being sent spinning down…
Quins stoop to conquer as London’s court jesters make a mockery of Bristol’s first half domination
If winning the league in the regular season is akin to reaching the top of a mountain, then losing in a semi final play off is like realising it was only a false summit just as you start sliding back down to a painful death. Bristol’s dream of a historic…
Sale’s South African investments pay dividend at the AJ Bell
The Orinoco may flow thousands of miles away in South America but Sale away on a Friday night seems just as far when it comes to rugby philosophies. The defeat was as much a loss of rugby soul as it was a scoreboard statistic. They may be sharks but Sale…
Rifles Cup showdown turns into fan hoedown as Bristol dance to the double against Gloucester
It’s well over a week late, the Rugby Paper have already done a write up to which I can only aspire, and I’ve had a shed load of school reports to write but I’ve finally managed to rise from my slumber and pen my thoughts on one of the more…
Kyle Sincks Bath’s first half hopes by driving the Bears to a record result at the Rec
As victories go, Bristol’s fourth win on the trot against them from the down the road was as comprehensive a one as you are likely to see, even with the 15-point head start Bath were generously handed in the first quarter of the game. Given the dominance that the Bears…
Brave Bears not quite a match for clinical Chiefs
You grin when you win, and you learn when you lose. One thing we discovered last Friday is that if you rattle the Chiefs then it doesn’t matter how many braves you have in your team, sometimes you just have to take a beating on the chin. But history also…
Malins’ hips give Falcons the yips as Bears max out with yet another bonus point win.
After the tame defeat in the Aquitaine sun the Bears roared back with a comfortable win against a limited Newcastle Falcons side, who had initially seemed hell bent on battering six lumps of shit out of their opponents but ultimately ended up chasing shadows like forlorn spring lambs who have…
Bordeaux-line officiating and ill discipline dumps Bears’ European hopes in the poubelle
In the heat of battle, sometimes the best laid plans of mice and men can go awry and sadly for the Bears their European adventure was exterminated by the cool cats from Bordeaux-Begles who found a way to halt their assault on the Champions Cup. Despite some questionable officiating, the…
It’s deja vu all over again as Bristol’s late, late show puts a cordon around Quins’ victory hopes
There are some things in life that just don’t make sense to me. Non-alcoholic beer. Tofu. And the way that Bristol Bears manage a game of rugby. For the second week in a row, they stared defeat in the face but then casually flipped it the bird with a fearless…
Filthy Rig 