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 succeeded in squeezing any sort of life out of the game and cantering home to a 19-point win.
It wasn’t just a bad a day in the office. It was more like turning up at work to find that the office had been dismantled brick by brick and rebuilt as a high security prison in which you had been given, perhaps not a life sentence, but at least a suspended one until next week’s visit to Wasps.
So much for the new rule changes encouraging more attacking play and increased player welfare. With 40-odd kicks out of hand in the first half, most of which rarely appeared to be anything more than aimless, it was the sore necks of all the fans that caused more concern for the medics on duty, along with the risk of getting speared by one of the myriad paper airplanes that showered the turf in the last quarter when it was clear that there was to be no fairytale ending now that the pantomime villains were back in town.
However, even though the dishwater admitted that the first half was dull, at least the Bears looked in control and you could see what they were trying to do. To be fair they had beaten Saracens in the first game back after the first lockdown with a similar sort of game plan so it was perhaps understandable that they might look to replicate the same.
But, the world, the game and the expectations of the swelling number of Bears’ fans have moved on from those days and if they really wanted to see such bland meat and two veg rugby they could quite easily get on a train and go down the Rec. Without wanting to be disrespectful to Captain Birdseye, now that the faithful have tasted caviar, oven cooked fish fingers just don’t cut the mustard, literally, and given that there is an increased demand for success, there also needs to be a regular supply of incisive, running rugby to match, otherwise there is the danger of the Bears’ fans dreams heading into recession.
The problem with Friday’s game was that even though they had been solid, secure and seemingly in control in the first half, the Bears were a tad unlucky to go into the break on parity with the opposition, but then quickly found themselves chasing the game after some soft penalties and what was, yet again, a lack of plan B when it came to breaching Saracens’ increasingly erect defence. As their peckers rose at an alarming rate, it appeared to have the reverse effect of draining the blood from the Bristol’s players’ heads rather than their own, and when Alex Lozowski tickled through an exquisite grubber for their try with ten minutes left on the clock, it was clear that the game was up.
There was to be no come back and given the frenzied upwelling of expectation in the run up to the game – with Pat Lam signing a new long-term contract, Premier Rugby quite literally giving the contest first dibs for the armchair fan, and whispers coming out from those in the know that Saracens might be a little undercooked – the result was certainly a big disappointment to all associated with Bristol Rugby.
And to cap it all off, the dire second half was also responsible for one of the more poorly conceived stadium features that the marketing men have ever devised, namely, the ‘Ravenscroft raving fan cam’, the introduction of which was about as well timed as some of Callum Sheedy’s second half pop passes. Less a knock on and more a straight red, the fact that the aim was presumably to gee up the crowd at a time when all they needed was some quiet reflection time in the local chapel, it was a spectacular own goal. If I was the sponsorship manager of the aforementioned investment services group, I certainly would not be subscribing to the ‘any publicity is good publicity’ model of marketing. In fact, I’d even go as far as paying for a direct competitor to get their name on the scheme in the hope that their share price would start to plummet the next time Downsy starts to reach for his microphone.
However, let’s not be too downhearted. Bears lost the first game last season and look what happened, and the reality was that we came up against a rugby club that has winning etched into its DNA, whether they have spent a year in Championship purgatory or not. We won’t be the only team to suffer under their relentless suffocation and perhaps it’s a blessed relief to get them out of the way first up, and deep amongst the carcass of Friday night there were still a small number of juicy cuts that we can take forward.
First, Chares Piutau was immense and reminded us all that he is still a paid up member of the Ministry of Magic, with a break in the first half that will live long in Ben Earl’s memory as much as those of the watching fans, but it was a pity that such wizardry failed to yield any points once it had been stifled by a last ditch, so called ‘tackle’ on Ioan Lloyd from the death eater in chief, Billy Vunipola. That neither the ref, nor the TMO felt it needed a second look was somewhat surprising, even though the self-appointed bad ass man appeared to come in from the side, off his feet and with scant regard for the young Welshman’s safety.
Secondly, Callum Sheedy has appeared to have put at least another ten yards onto his place kicking and if he can replicate this from out of hand, and on the run, then maybe, just maybe, we might get some mileage out of the 50:22 rule or at least see some of the rush defences put on the back foot with a few well drilled torpedoes targeted back into enemy territory.
Finally, it was just great to be back in a stadium where fans were afforded the opportunity to have a beer, chew the cud and get some post-match perspective. Those of us versed in Lamian metaphors know full well that this is only the start of a climb up the mountain and although we may still be floundering in base camp, it’s all about peaking at the right time. With a tough assignment on Coventry this Saturday, we’ll need to have the crampons at the ready but hopefully the long march will begin in earnest. C’mon Bris!
If you want to hear more about this game and a preview of the next with guest podder, Rob Sutton from the Wasps Report, then click here for Episode 81 of Bears Beyond the Gate, the Bristol Bears podcast made by fans for fans.
Filthy Rig 