Nothing tastes sweeter than a win over one of your biggest rivals and Saturday’s 34-16 triumph over Gloucester is one Bears’ fans will saviour.
That’s Bath and Gloucester dispatched at Ashton Gate this season and not by narrow margins but by thumping wins. Victories over our ‘nearest and dearest’ not only lift the spirits, but are the games that live in our memories and build the bond between fan and club.
To use the old cliché it was a game of two halves. A tight first half where we’d nudge in front and then manage to conjure up a penalty from the restart to give Gloucester an instant riposte.
I think this is one area of our game we’ve struggled with all season and if we want to win the tight games we need to improve receiving and taking restarts.
If the first half was tight and tense, the second half was a joy to watch as we broke free and played some lovely running rugby and scored three beautiful tries. A special mention to our new boy Henry Purdy, who scored a great try against his former employers.
Speaking with fans after the game we all liked what we saw in Purdy and with a few more performances like that, hope he might be sticking around BS3 into next season.
So after a scintillating second half where Gloucester only came alive in the final five minutes the Bears closed out the game and recorded the win in our 227th game against Gloucester - a fixture that stretches back to 1892.
What makes this fixture and the win even more special is the silverware at stake - the Rifles Cup. It’s a relatively new trophy that’s up for grabs for league fixtures between Bristol and Gloucester.
And how fitting that our captain fantastic, Steven Luatua, got his hands on the cup. Luatua is the heartbeat of our team, whose level of consistency, skill and determination is a joy to behold.
Let’s hope it is not the only silverware he gets his hands on in a Bears shirt. It seems odd using the word legend while someone is still playing, but in my mind this guy already has a special place in our club’s history.
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