A wonderful night but Bears miss out on a lot of money
WELL, it was just the 166 days late but the sparkling performance by Bristol Bears on Friday night was well worth the wait. The 56-17 victory over a plucky Dragons team was not only conclusive but also highly entertaining. This win was built on fast-flowing rugby with Bristol players running from deep to rack up close to 800 metres in attack.
However, as comprehensive as the win will look in in the history books, it won’t reveal an opening quarter where the Bears stuttered and found themselves trailing 0-10. Fair play to the Dragons who came with a game-plan to stifle Bristol and executed it well and fully deserved their early lead.
As a fan it was great to see how quickly the Bristol players adapted to the Dragons’ strategy and hit back with three tries in a devastating six-minute period in that first half. Ben ‘snake hips’ Earl showing that it’s not only the backs that can sidestep their way to the try-line.
From then on it was one-way traffic as the Bears cut loose, adding four more tries to their tally after the break, including a contender or two for try of the season.
All in all, it was a wonderful night of knockout rugby for everyone associated with the club, except for one person perhaps – the director of finance.
In non-coronavirus times Ashton Gate would have been packed for this ‘all-pay’ game with hungry and thirsty fans. I reckon match ticket sales, corporate hospitality, plus food and drink receipts would have been worth close to £1 million of revenue. And with a home semi-final to follow, you start to see just how much this crowdless cup run could have made for the club.
All eyes now turn to Friday’s home semi-final against Bordeaux Begles. This is going to be a serious test for Pat Lam and the boys and has more of a feel of a Champions Cup game. Let’s not forget that when the Top 14 season was abandoned in the summer, Bordeaux were top of the league after 17 games and eight points clear of their nearest rivals.
I’m sure Bristol Bears fans everywhere are eagerly anticipating the starting whistle on Friday. Thank goodness the wait is just 168 hours, not 166 days!
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