BRISTOL made it four British Irish Cup pool wins from four games as they ground out a gritty win in extremely difficult conditions at Netherdale.
Gala, who had been beaten 62-7 at the Memorial Stadium six days earlier, fielded a much stronger side – including Scotland internationals Nikki Walker and Moray Low – and competed fiercely against Bristol.
The driving rain and swirling wind was hardly conducive to neat, flowing rugby – and the game was punctuated by scrums that followed handling errors.
No points were scored in a poor second half as both teams struggled to put together more than a couple of phases in succession.
But Bristol had set up the victory in the first half, with Ryan Edwards, Andy Short and Iain Grieve going over before the break – despite the visitors spending lengthy periods on the back foot.
Overall, though, the victory was Bristol’s third in a week – following Tuesday’s 78-0 drubbing of Aberavon – and will no doubt send them into next weekend’s return to GKIPA Championship action at Ealing in fine fettle, after recent league defeats against Cornish Pirates and Leeds.
Bristol opened the scoring on nine minutes when, after driving a line-out, they went down the blindside, with winger Edwards sneaking through to score. Tristan Roberts’ conversion was caught up in a wind so fierce that the ball started heading back toward him
Gala competed well at the breakdown – and they got themselves on the scoreboard through a David O’Hagan penalty after a sustained spell of pressure.
Gala took the lead through another O’Hagan penalty on 30 minutes – and it would have been difficult to argue that they did not deserve their 6-5 advantage, having carried the game to Bristol.
But Bristol underlined the difference between their professional squad and Gala’s largely amateur ranks in the five minutes immediately before half-time.
They were afforded two chances – and took them both. First, when home full-back Graham Speirs slipped on the wet pitch as he went to collect what had appeared a routine kick through from Roberts, Andy Short pounced.
Bristol had three men ready to put pressure on Speirs had he collected Roberts’ chip – so, when he fell, Short was able to pounce on the loose ball and race over the line. Roberts conversion looked good until the final moment, when a gust of wind carried it across the face of the posts.
Off the final move of the half, flanker Grieve’s endeavour was rewarded with a try. Bristol built a head of steam, James Grindal found Roberts, and he played in Grieve, who ran a smart and powerful line to leave Gala helpless to stop him from driving over. Roberts smashed over the conversion to make it 17-6 at the break.
And that, quite unbelievably, is how it remained. The second half was a fractious affair, punctuated by even more errors as the wind and rain had almost as much of an impact as any of the 30 players on the field.
The only real incident of note after the break saw the otherwise impressive Grieve yellow-carded for cynically blocking off Gregor Mein as the Gala centre went to kick ahead – but otherwise it was a tedious 40 minutes, ruined by the weather.
Bristol, however, will not complain. Having negotiated a potentially tricky three-game block in the space of six day, with three wins, two bonus points, 157 points scored, only 13 conceded, 25 tries scored – and, perhaps most importantly, no obvious injuries – this has been a profitable week for Andy Robinson’s men.
Gala: G Speirs (C Dods 63); N Walker, S Beard, G Mein, G Sibanda (L Draycott 67); D O’Hagan (C Auld 63), A McLean (capt); R Sutherland, J Hilterbrand (L Bertram 71), M Low (M Kibble 71) S Cox, O Palepoi, C Borthwick (F Hunter 74), S Chapman (J Irving 61), G Graham.
Scorers: Pens – O’Hagan (2).
Bristol: J Tovey (A Slowik 61); A Short, F Otto, M Cooke, R Edwards; T Roberts (A Jarvis 61), J Grindal (capt; R Tipuna 61); W Davis (M Lilley 67), R Freestone (O Hayes 67), J Hall, M Sambucetti (E Genge 80), J Joyce, I Grieve, R Pennycook, B Skirving. Rep not used: S Uren.
Scorers: Tries – Edwards, Short, Grieve.
Sin-binned: Grieve (69-80, professional foul).
Referee: B Whitehouse.
Article source: http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/sport/10634796.RUGBY_UNION__We_must_be_more_clinical__says_Burnell/?ref=nt
Gala 6, Bristol Rugby 17: Full-time match report
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