On paper the concept of Bristol’s Big Day Out in Cardiff was good. From the Bears’ perspective it gave them a chance to attract some more transient voters and have a good time in one of the world’s great stadiums. For Prem as a whole it also reflects the league’s overall attendance figures and reflects the feeling of a tournament constantly getting bigger and better.
However, for the satisfaction index to reach the required heights, the most basic part of the equation must be addressed. Unfortunately for the Bears marketers this competition did absolutely nothing for the Bristolian blood pressure as they lost to a Harlequins team without a win in the first six matches and their playoff prospects were seriously damaged.
Quins, however, thoroughly deserved this morale-boosting win, which their Argentinian winger Rodrigo Isgro effectively sealed with a 58th-minute try. It has been a poor season for the Londoners but this week’s announcement of a reshuffle of the coaching staff for next season has encouraged them to draw a line in the sand. His defensive performance was certainly full of courage and he never let the Bears lose their rhythm.
This left Bristol in fifth place, seven points off the playoff positions and it was the worst possible moment for them to lose momentum. Their captain, Fitz Harding, was as tireless as ever and, for a long time, his seventh-minute try had his team in the doldrums. Steven Luatua also kept going until the end and scored a late consolation, but Jamie Benson’s last-minute penalty ensured Quins a comfortable victory.
This could prove costly for Bristol, especially in a week when they announced a pre-tax annual loss of £5.6m despite a slightly increased turnover of £11.1m. It was a day when they needed to add to the on-field numbers, with Leicester and Exeter both securing bonus-point wins to cement their current spot in the top four.
There was uncertainty as to how far Quins would bounce back after their home defeat to Gloucester. It was a test of character they could not afford to fail, even with Marcus Smith absent on the Caribbean break and on the growing injury list. In this program he passed it brilliantly.
It didn’t look too likely early on, with their task made even more difficult due to a lack of the ball in the first half, but Alex Dombrandt, for one thing, refused to let that put him off. When Harding was denied a first-time try when he was stopped on the defensive rack, the No. 8 was eventually rewarded with a similar close range to put his team ahead on the scoreboard after 22 minutes.
Even in a stop-start game, Bristol can be shown to be more lethal if their talented backs are passing the ball from one side to the other. While he posed the occasional threat through Lewis Rees-Zammit, the Welsh international could never escape his pursuers. In the end his mixed performances at full-back were not the antidote he might have hoped for in a Six Nations campaign that yielded only one Welsh win in five attempts.
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Prem roundup: Leicester give Gloucester ‘devastating first 20 minutes’
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George Skivington was angry with some of his Gloster After the team’s performance they were easily defeated 36-17 by the in-form leicester In Villa Park. It was Gloucester’s first visit to a Premier League football field, but they missed any chance of making it worthwhile, conceding 22 points in the opening 16 minutes and never recovered. He showed prowess scoring three times as Leicester became careless with the Slater Cup already safely in the bag.
Jamie Blamire, two, Will Wand, Gabriel Hamer-Webb, Orlando Bailey and Harry Wells were Leicester’s try-scorers, with Billy Searle adding two and James O’Connor adding a conversion. Matias Alemanno, Will Joseph and Dianne Bleuler scored tries for Gloucester, one of which was converted by Charlie Atkinson.
Skivington said: “I’m trying to calm down but if I was picking a team for next week now, there would definitely be some changes. The first 20 minutes were disastrous with some key moments leading to individual players deciding not to be more challenging in the tackle. There was also an issue at scrum time.”
The Slater Cup is played between the two clubs in honor of their former player Ed Slater (pictured with Ollie Chasem), who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2022.
exeter Forwards coach Ross McMillan said his team executed its gameplan very well in Friday’s 38-14 win. newcastle. A brutal opening 25 minutes at Kingston Park saw Paul Browne-Bampo score twice either side of Campbell Riddle’s effort before Ollie Woodburn grabbed the bonus point. Riddle scored his second try before the break and Stephen Varney scored soon after the restart.
McMillan said: “Especially in games that start the way they did, there are ups and downs in your game and it’s hard to maintain. That’s probably an area we want to make sure we get right again if we get the opportunity to do so. The start of the game was exactly how we wanted. Good for our players, they executed the plan very well.”
Newcastle head coach Stephen Jones was disappointed with the start but was hopeful his team could see it as a lesson. “We learned some really good lessons tonight as a group. We’re wasting some young players,” he said. “Our group will be better for it for this experience. I’ll be better for it from a coaching standpoint, too. I know there are some areas we can emphasize, especially for next week.” pa media
At least renting out their stadium will give the cash-strapped Welsh Rugby Union some extra money, but inviting the Prem Tanks onto your covered lawn is always a calculated risk. In an ideal world many locals would prefer the annual Anglo-Welsh big games between Cardiff and the Bears rather than see their teams disappear to South Africa to play opponents with whom they have no historical ties, let alone geographical rivalry.
Instead the Welsh sides find themselves with their noses pressed up at the Prem windows, even if that is not necessarily an advertisement for the superiority of a rival product. The final half hour was tough to say the least, especially when Jarrod Evans gave his team the lead 8–7 with a simple penalty in the 51st minute for not releasing in a tackle.
Surely Bristol couldn’t become Quins’ first victim in an extremely disappointing season? However, the longer the game went on, the more the visitors’ confidence began to grow and they fully deserved their second try, Isgro leaving his station on the right wing to weave around the midfield defense and score near the post to reward a purposeful period of pressure. When the Bears were planning their big day, this huge upset was not at all part of their plans.
