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 derby the week before.
The best that can be said about the season opener against Bath was that we won it and even that was in the balance right up to the moment their drop goal attempt drifted majestically left of the posts on the final whistle. After the shenanigans of Premiership Rugby’s dithering, which left the match TMO-less, there was definitely an old school feel about the event, both in the stands and down on the grass. Knowing that those of us in the ground were the only ones watching the contest live had a somewhat raw and cleansing feeling about given that we knew that every cheer or jeer would not be reversed minutes later, but it became apparent that the players were also enjoying the rare opportunity to practise those dark arts that had largely been consigned to history as players of both persuasions attempted to influence the course of the contest through both fair means and foul. Given the geographical location, there really was a Wild West feel to the afternoon and although most sane observers would probably agree that the TMO is a necessary force for good, you do wonder whether it would be fun for the authorities to allow each team to designate one home game a season for a ‘pure’ form of officiating. Maybe market them as ‘games of reckoning’ or such like. God knows they need to find new ways of getting bums on seats and going down the route of choreographed violence may just be one of them.
So, after gratefully pocketing a bonus point from them from down the road the Bears arrived at the cavernous white elephant that is the Coventry Building Society Stadium with an altogether more difficult task in hand, having not won away at Wasps in what felt like a million years. 22 years to be precise but given the fact that only 30% of the UK population had an internet connection then it really did feel like that long ago.
It was no doubt a big ask for the Bears to reverse history, particularly after a brief glance at the opposition’s back five which read the like the roll call for an episode of Gladiators. Led by Joe Launchbery, a man who, if he hadn’t been a professional rugby player, would have been handed a major part in Games of Thrones without the need for an audition, and back row consisting of the Willis brothers and the bearded Alfie Barbary, you knew that the contest would be lost and won, and probably lost, in and around the breakdown. And when Tom Cruse dabbed down early on, it wasn’t hard to imagine that a Bears’ win was realistically mission impossible.
However, who would have thought, after last season’s travails, that Callum Sheedy would emerge as Bristol’s top gun by writing his own bit of history with a perfect full house scoring record of try, conversions, penalties and a collector’s item itself, a drop goal. Fueled by the competition from AJ MaGinty and the influence of Dave Alred, he has started the season in full turbo charge. No more will we shake our heads as his kicks out of hand fail to reach the opposition’s 22 and no more shall he target the post with those from the tee. Like Jesus he has risen again after being crucified on the Calgarian cross of Twitter and I for one will be glorifying his name and reveling in his second coming.
Ultimately the historic win for Bristol came from the perfect combination of a heroic and ferocious defensive effort, clinical finishing and most importantly of all Wasps’ obsession with butchering possession on the cusp of scoring. It was like watching a re-run of our season last year and in the end I felt a little bit sorry for the smattering of Wasps fans in the stadium. There is nothing like being killed by the hope and Bristolian fans have got a doctorate in that.
23-8 was definitely flattering but there were some excellent performances that builds on the early optimism that we are desperately trying to repress.
Kyle Sinckler, and his wild man of Borneo look, led a front row that dominated the scrum in the first half although he then proceeded to conceded three penalties in a row early in the second and was quickly whipped off by Pat before the demons took hold and replaced by Bristol’s answer to Giles Brandreth, Max ‘LaChief’ as the excellent Elliot Stooke on PRTV referred to him. I’d love to get some insight into the front row WhatsApp group as Max regales his peers with new recipes for chimichurri sauce and pictures of his tantric hot yoga sessions. The thought of Yann Thomas and Kyle Sinckler working their way through an extended metaphor concerning carcasses and codes when a simple ‘fancy a coffee’ would suffice certainly tickles my rig and I do look forward to the ‘Lahiff diaries’ on his retirement from the game.
Further down the pack Joycey and Vui went about their business like the efficient corporate second row operators that they are and full credit to the King that he was heard barking orders to slow the game down at the death which led to the drop goal that cemented the victory. When the engine room is purring then the journey is more straightforward but the real plaudits must go the back row and in particular to ‘England’s’ Sam Jeffries, who tackled like Demogorgons and took the fight to their opposition. It’s just a shame that John Hawkins wasn’t on the pitch to make the analogy complete.
Whilst the pack deserve recognition for the shift they put in credit also has to to go to the back line who delivered the precision and pace that picked off Wasps. Both tries were well worked training ground moves and involved the basic skill of drawing the man and hitting the line at pace and even when Rich Lane’s excellent break in the first half left him tantalisingly short it was heartening to see us recycle the ball quickly from the ruck before the scramble defence could slow it down, something that was definitely an issue last year. Moreover the Bradbury try in the second period came from an excellent line break fashioned by O’Conor and Piatau and to see the big Scot drag Barbary to the line after timing his run to perfection was enough to make your mouth ‘Nathan who?’ and quietly fold up your Sweet City cut away gym top and place it deep in your wardrobe if you hadn’t done already.
No, it was the dictionary definition of an away team ‘smash and grab’ and was very satisfying to see the Bears replicate what other teams did at Ashton Gate last year. It makes us believe that we have injected a bit of pragmatism into our game plan, particularly on the road , that will help us accumulate confidence and points for putting on big shows back at the Gate and get us back on track with Pat’s five year plan of full scale global domination. As usual the bitter pill to swallow was injury news particularly concerning Sam Jeffries and a potential personnel crisis in the back row, but with Dan Thomas hopefully on the way back, Chris Vui a tried and tested replacement and an opposition in London Irish who won’t set quite the forward challenge that Wasps did, we have to go into the next Saturday’s game with full confidence that we can reverse the second half horror show that we experienced against them last year from which some fans are still in therapy, and we keep our early season form in place as we motor towards the autumn. Up the Bears!
Filthy Rig 