It was certainly a game of two halves at the Sports Ground in Connacht.
After a hugely forgettable first 34 minutes, it was our tried and tested maul that finally got us over the try line via the ever-reliable Bryan Byrne.
The second half burst into life following the referee’s decision to yellow card Bundi Aki. This gave Bears the impetus and muscle to drive through the middle more often, creating the width to allow Ed Holmes and Piers O’Conor to benefit with two tries in the space of a few minutes.
Bristol finally settled the match and the extra bonus point when Ioan Lloyd went over for a brilliant score in the corner to seal a 27-18 victory.
Since it’s inauspicious inauguration with its first game in Romania as the Heineken Cup in 1995 when Toulouse were crowned the first winners, the Champions Cup has grown to become the pinnacle of European rugby.
This week some of that excitement diminished when the news of further positive Covid cases was announced. Due to the shortened season, the new four-game pool format has thrown up some obvious difficulties. Losing your first game gives you a mountain to climb to gain qualification to the knock- out stages.
Although it was agreed that all sides in the tournament would forfeit matches if fixtures could not be fulfilled, it is particularly harsh on Bath and Glasgow who are now effectively out of the competition after playing just one competitive game.
Even though they did not have any positive cases themselves, they were forced to concede after facing teams that contained players who subsequently did test positive.
Whilst I appreciate the tricky nature of playing rugby in the COVID-19 era, we potentially face the prospect of having a showpiece event which will not contain the very best teams in the final, and that can only tarnish the competition, at least in the short term.
The news of Jack Singleton moving from Saracens to Gloucester has got a few Bears supporters excited about the prospect of us keeping Ben Earl or Max Malins. I do not wish to play the part of Ebenezer Scrooge, but both signed long term deals until 2023 whereas Singleton did not, so I wouldn’t expect Santa to be delivering these gifts to Bristol this year!
Up The Bears!
You can listen to Bears Beyond The Gate on all major podcast platforms, including Apple, Spotify and Buzzsprout.
