from bristolrugby.co.uk
Chiefs take the win in hard
fought battle at the top
Despite coming back from seventeen points down, Bristol suffered their first loss of the 2009/10 season this afternoon against West County rivals Exeter Chiefs. It was true spectator rugby at The Memorial Stadium today, with both sides scoring a total of six tries and Bristol climbing back in the second half to even the score.
In an evenly match affair between the two top Championship sides with the visitors taking the win, finishing off their efforts to remain still unbeaten this season.
Exeter got on the board first this afternoon, with fly half Gareth Steenson sending the ball between the uprights after two minutes of play and punishing Bristol for their handing in the ruck.
The home side found themselves another three points down soon after, having been turned over and then subsequently coming offside at the breakdown to award a second penalty. Steenson made it two out of two to take Exeter ahead by six.
Despite Chiefs early lead, it was Bristol who offered the threat in the backs, although the nerves appeared evident in the opening fifteen minutes of the game for the home side.
Ignited by their early trail, Bristol’s backs kicked into action with Dan Norton and Tom Arscott both slipping through Chief’s defence. An offload from Dan Montagu to Luke Eves set the centre dodging the tackle, gunning for the line before knocking on merely a yard away from the score.
Against his former club, Junior Fatialofa made a clear break inside the Chief's half minutes later, the powerful centre offloading to Norton on the wing before Roy Winters lost the ball in contact meters from the line.
With Bristol struggling to finish off their attacking phases, Chiefs took advantage of Bristol nervous handling when a loose pass by Adrian Jarvis handed Matt Cornwell the interception for his side’s opening try. Steenson converted to leave the home side trailing by 13.
After a period of forward pressure on the Chiefs pack, Adrian Jarvis got Bristol on the board with three points, repeated soon after from a superb kick forty meters out. 6-13.
Exeter took full advantage of Bristol’s errors to go ahead further with thirty-five minutes gone. Steenson continued to punish the home side, slotting the ball between the uprights when Dan Montagu played off his feet at the breakdown.
To add to Bristol’s woes, a last minute push over try by Richard Baxter finished off the first half for the visitors, awarding them a convincing lead at half time.
The bigger picture will show that today’s result has no direct effect on the goal for both sides today; promotion. But with pride and that unbeaten status on the line, Bristol had a lot to play for in the second half.
It proved a pretty evenly matched affair, although Bristol maintained their attacking edge and were awarded with a further three points off the boot of Jarvis ten minutes after the break. 9-23.
After an impressive performance throughout the game, Junior Fatialofa secured Bristol’s first try of the game with fifty-seven minutes gone, taking the offload from Jarvis inside the 22 before piercing through Chiefs defence to cross the line. Jarvis add the further 2 points to narrow the score.16-23.
Confidence on the up, Bristol didn’t leave it long before adding another seven points after a accurately placed chip kick from Tom Arscott on the wing sent Dan Norton over the line. Jarvis, on kicking form this afternoon, made the conversion.
The score didn’t remain even for long however and Bristol again found themselves on the back foot when a well executed pass from Steenson to Phil Dollman on the wing sent the centre over the line. For the first time today, Steenson missed the conversion to leave five points between the sides.
Despite a shaky start lineout, Bristol dominated in the set piece throughout the second half, heaving on the pressure at the scrum before a penalty kick from Jarvis added another three points for the home side. 26-28.
Just when the game couldn’t get any more tense for both camps, Chiefs scored their fourth try of the game, securing a bonus point courtesy of replacement hooker Simon Alcott. Steenson got back on track, slotting the conversion to take Chiefs ahead by 9. Final score 26-35.
Bristol Rugby
Luke Arscott; Tom Arscott, Luke Eves, Junior Fatialofa, Dan Norton, Adrian Jarvis, Jason Spice; Mark Irish, David Blaney, Wayne Thompson, Mariano Sambucetti, Roy Winters, Iain Grieve, James Merriman, Dan Montagu
Ollie Hayes, Darren Crompton (50), James Phillips (50), Redford Pennycook (68), Robbie Shaw (75), Mark Davies (72), Lee Robinson (50)
Exeter Chiefs
Emry Lewis; Matt Jess, Phil Dollman, Matt Cornwell, Paul Mckenzie, Gareth Steenson, Clive Stuart-Smith; Brett Sturgess, Neil Clark, Hoani Tui, Tom Hayes ( c), James Hanks, Chad Slade, James Scaysbrook, Richie Baxter.
Simon Alcott (58), Ruaidhri Murphy (76), Sean Tones (76), Tom Johnson (56), Haydn Thomas (50), Dann Gray, Mark Foster (50)
