The future looks bright for the future of Bristol Bears despite a narrow 34-35 loss to Newcastle Falcons in the 3rd/4th place playoff at the Premiership Rugby U18s finals day.
The star of the show for the Bears at Sixways was Bristol Grammar School student Harry Rowson who scored a hat-trick of tries from outside centre to get his side back in the contest.
Bristol were 21-0 down at one point in the first half but managed to come back in the second half and the game was theirs to lose for much of the final 10 minutes.
Three tries from Rowson and additional scores from Ollie Holiday and Chay Mullin put the Bears ahead but a late try from Louis Peacock and the essential conversion kicked by James Blackett was just enough for the Falcons to snatch a one-point victory.
Both sides seemed a bit nervous at the start of the game and it was like the ball was a hot potato that the players didn’t want to hold on to. It took a few minutes for the nerves to settle and it was Newcastle who started to play the better style of rugby first.
The Falcons scored through Ben Robson, Ollie Fletcher and two tries from Mathew Ward but Bristol kept their composure and went through the phases well and it wasn’t long before they scored themselves.
Tom Wilstead put in a great performance at fly-half and played an instrumental role in the Bear’s first score. He sidestepped the defence and glided through the line before delivering a beautifully weighted pass to Mullin who showed his pace to dot down underneath the posts.
The Bears attacked well for much of the game and it was clear to see that they were playing in the same style as the first team. Forwards were making breaks and everyone was looking to offload in contact.
Playing at outside centre, Rowson had a great game and speaking after the contest Bristol’s Senior Academy Manager Gethin Watts was quick to praise his performance.
“Harry Rowson was excellent,” Watts said after the game.
“We’ve nicknamed him ‘the crab’ because he moves as quickly sideways as he does forwards and I think he showed that in his tries.
"He’s not the biggest man in the world but he’s deceptively strong and he moves really well. He’s an excellent defender. You don’t have to be the best tackler to be the best defender but he does that really well in that position.”
Another player who really stood out was Hartpury College student Ollie Holiday who was fast in attack but also a rock in defence. He has a strong hand off and is a really exciting talent on the wing. His future looks bright.
Watts said he was proud of his performance but also how the whole team played.
“There were notable players for us all across the board really especially in the second half when we were able to carry the ball and keep the ball and play a style that’s indicative of what we are about at the Bears. From that point of view, it was a good crowd-pleaser.”
Bristol were ahead for much of the second half meaning the Bears came away disappointed to have the victory snatched away from them in the final minute of the game.
Watts said: “It was disappointing in the end.
“We weren’t at the races really in the first half and we gifted them too many points. A couple of things needed to be fixed at half time but that was more to do with keeping the ball and defensively being a little bit stronger.
“We were good value second half but all credit to Newcastle for coming back at the end. It was a decent game of rugby for the neutral!
“At the end of the day, it’s about these kids developing. It’s a high-pressure situation, the game was on a knife-edge and those kids will definitely benefit from that experience. We just came a little bit short in the last few minutes.”
Bristol are building well and there were definitely similarities between the way the first team play and how the U18 side performed on Sunday.
“It’s no surprise that if you look at the way that we like to try and play and the way that the seniors play there is almost a blueprint and that’s more to do with a cultural point of view and the way that we want to play,” Watts explained.
“We had a team run yesterday and 30 minutes before we debriefed with the seniors, Pat Lam held court with everybody and that’s the way he wants to run the club.
"There’s a DNA being developed at the club, Pat is at the helm and everyone is more than happy to follow his lead. There’s a lot of work being done at the younger age groups and hopefully, it’ll mean a longer term success for the club going forward.”
"It is likely that some of these U18 players will go on and get senior academy contracts and this is something that the club is trying to promote.
“We want to be promoting more homegrown players in, yes we have the players like Semi Radradra and Kyle Sinckler coming in and that’s inspiring for our players but also it makes good business sense and from a community point of view to get more homegrown players in.
“We want to inspire the community through rugby and by getting more homegrown players we will be able to do that as well as a sprinkle of stardust on top.”
Bristol Bears U18s : 15. Chay Mullins (SGS college); 14. Benjy Joseland (Clifton College), 13. Harry Rowson (Bristol Grammar School), 12. Dylan Power (Colstons School), 11. Ollie Holliday (Hartpury College), 10. Tom Wilstead (Colstons School/Cleve RFC), 9. Calaghan Smith (Millfield School); 1. Andrew Turner (SGS college), 2. Jalen Curry (SGS college), 3. Aaron Thompson (SGS college), 4. George Taylor (Bristol Grammar School), 5. Charlie Rice (SGS college), 6. Fergus Dick (Bristol Grammar School/Old Bristolians RFC), 7. Jamie Collier (c) (SGS college), 8. MacEnzie Duncan (SGS college/Clevedon RFC).
Replacements: 16. Tom Sims (SGS college), 17. George Perry (SGS college), 18. Soloman Taufa (SGS college/Avonmouth RFC), 19. Mason Hughes (Hartpury College), 20. Angus Judkins (Taunton School), 21. Jac Lloyd (Clifton College), 22. Ru Schofield (Wellington School/Winscombe RFC).
