Tag: Bristol Bears

Posted in match reports

View from here and there: A double header of sorts

Posted on by an old grey dog

Well, that was a fun day – heading up to Heywood Road first thing for the women’s game, then dashing off to the Trafford Centre to catch the men playing later in the afternoon.

It’s been a busy week for me following those two games, so this is going to be a quick recap of them, more for the sake of publishing something than to do any in-depth analysis. I should be back to more ‘normal’ screeds once the PREMiership gets under way.

Sale Sharks 14 Saracens 27 (PWRC)

Given that in last year’s PWR, Saracens were 26-0 up by half-time, this defeat is still evidence of a remarkable improvement in the Sale women’s team.

I’m not going to read anything into this performance: I know that both teams are missing players, but I’ve seen enough to anticipate at least a decent mid-table finish this year. As I said last week, there’s something different about the team’s approach. It’s hard to quantify, but it mostly comes down to a feeling: that there’s more purpose about their play, a stronger intent.

And, let’s face it, Saracens were flattered by the scoreline. It was only a breakaway try when Sale were pressing for a potentially winning score that made the gap as wide as it is.

I’ve still got a good feeling about this season.

Sale Sharks 24 Bristol Bears 15 (PRC)

And so, over to what we now have to call the other Corpaq Stadium for the men to take on Bristol.

I was a bit apprehensive about this, as we were fielding a very mixed first/academy team (with significant international absences). In contrast, Bristol seemed to be taking it seriously, with many of their top players out there.

The first seemed to justify the gloomy predictions, as Bristol piled on a 12-5 lead by halftime, without seeming to be trying.

But then, Sale seem to have the measure of Bristol. Keep van Rensburg and Ibitoye quiet, and Briz don’t have the fluency that they’re known for.

So it was that the tide turned in the second half as converted tries from Jibulu and Hanson took Sale to a seven-point lead. McGinty pulled a penalty back, but a late try from Ollie Davis meant we took the full five points from the game and denied Bristol anything.

Kudos this week to all the women against Sarries. What I said last week still applies, and again I’m going to single out Sharifa Kasolo. Very impressive.

The men all stepped up following the game that shall not be mentioned the week before. It was a shame that Obi Ene went off injured after half an hour, as he’s looked good every time I’ve watched him. Lots of potential there.

I think we may have a second Asher in the shape of our new hooker: that was a seriously impressive outing. And, yes, I’m going to say it…

I like the cut of his jib.

Sorry.

I thought Tom Curtis had his best game in a while, and Flats seems to have found the fountain of youth.

So, that’s it for the men: one game, then a bye week. Hardly seems worth it, does it? Come back a week later for the first of four PREMiership games in four months up to the end of the year. Talk about giving the supporters what they want and keeping the crowd’s interest…

Yes, actually, can we talk about that? Because the powers that be don’t seem to give a toss.

As for the women, they go down to Bristol for round four of the PWRC. A win there should see them through to the knock-out stages (although it’s hard to be sure as the PWR website is woefully short of useful details like tables and so on). Good luck to them, but even if they don’t manage the win, they’ve shown me enough that I’m looking forward to the league campaign.

Posted in match reports

View from the laptop: Bristol 13 Sale 27 [GP]

Posted on by an old grey dog

I thought this was going to be tight but it seems that Sale really do know how to stop Bristol from playing the game that they want to play.

Bristol had more than half the possession and territory, carried more, beat more defenders and made more offloads and passes than Sale.

But it’s quality, not quantity that wins matches (yes, yes, quantity, not quality, of points wins matches, obviously. Just be quiet at the back, there. You know what I meant). Less than half the territory? Maybe, but the territory we had was where it counts – in the 22. Eleven visits for 27 points compared to six visits for seven points. Fewer carries, yes, but 509 metres from 43, as opposed to 378 from 46.

Neat offloads and slick passing look cool but if they get you nothing…

I’m kind of glad that, during the first twenty minutes, I was making my way to Heywood Road for the Sale FC game, rather than watching this live. Catching up on replay was stressful enough, and I knew what was going to happen. Suffice it to say that, with Ben going to the bin and then Caulfield’s try looking a little too easy for comfort, I could imagine those watching live already suffering from gluteal constriction syndrome.

Ben’s return steadied the ship, though, and Sale gradually started to get back into it. That’s not to say that they weren’t doing that thing of making silly mistakes and losing the initiative, or that Bristol weren’t throwing it around a bit and looking keen: no, it was more that the hits were going in hard, and Bristol, for all their hard work, were making little progress.

Then Sale got a penalty to set up a five-metre line-out. From that, another penalty and another line-out. Then, suddenly, it was Gus to George to Tom Roebuck and a long, looping pass out to Reedy in acres of space out left.

Five minutes later, and more Sale pressure (does Creevy ever stop? “You are the Energiser bunny and I claim my five pounds”) saw Ford pop over a drop goal to give Sale a one-point lead, which they would keep going into half-time. Watching George against Argentina and here against Bristol does make you wonder why the drop goal ever went out of fashion: it’s such a useful threat to have up your sleeve.

Traditionally, half-time is when the opposition have a think and modify their game plan, whilst Sale come out doing more of the same and proceed to lose the initiative. And, when Sheedy popped over a penalty two minutes into the second half, it looked as if tradition was going to be observed. But tradition is overrated and, three minutes later, a sublime Ford double-pump and laser-accurate pass left Ibitoye wondering what day it was and Sam James strolling over the line for try number two.

We got another boost with Dickie replacing the Energiser bunny to make his Sale debut. The future’s looking good with those two around, TT to come back and some serious talent waiting in the wings and learning from the best.

Bristol responded to the Sale try with a well-worked attack of their own, but a loose pass by van Rensberg went straight into the grateful arms of Rob du Preez, who sprinted eighty-some metres for a welcome try out of the blue.

Sheedy reduced the deficit to seven and, soon after, George failed to restore it to ten. Almost immediately, though, Joe Carpenter – on for RdP – finished off another slick move with the bonus-point try, converted by George, to give us the fourteen-point lead that we would hold on to for the remaining twenty minutes.

I mentioned at the start that Sale seem to have the measure of Bristol. In the twelve league matches between us, since they came back up in 2016, Bristol have only won three (one drawn). For all the pundits’ praise of Bristol’s attacking style and threat from the back, they’ve only twice put more than 20 points on us in those games.

Even so, a fourteen-point margin is more than I expected and seems more indicative of where Sale are this season than does the Exeter aberration. On recent showing, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect us to at least match last season’s success.

I won’t single out any specific players because I felt this game was a true team performance. Yes, there were periods of sloppy play – and I’m sure they will be addressed in due time – but we also saw some good understanding and smooth interplay in there. More of that and less of the “oops” and we’ll be well set.

Having said that I won’t single anyone out, I should point out that George was the (deserved) Player of the Match (although not for his place-kicking, obviously). Also, it was good to see Dickie make his debut and, like Creevy last week, slot in as if he’d always been there. Joe C picked up as if he’d never been away as well.

And to think we’re still missing Curry, T., James, L., O’Flats and Manu among others.

And so on to the next one: Newcastle at home on Friday evening.

Dare I say it? This really needs to be a statement win. Yes, I know all the diplomatic guff that players and coaches throw around to avoid appearing cocky – and cockiness is indeed the quickest way to a pratfall – but we have to target a big win here. Partly that would be to continue to erase that 43-point deficit that we’re still carrying around but also to make a statement that visiting teams need to fear us.

We need to attack this game as if it were Sarries or Quins visiting, not the Old Scrotonians 3rd XV. I’m sure Axe will give all the usual talk about not underestimating Newcastle, how they can be a bit of a bogey team for us and how they’ll be smarting from last week. But I want to see us go for a big win: so far, our largest victory margin is fourteen points, let’s try to make it forty. I have a lot of sympathy for any team that’s up against it like Newcastle currently are, but not when they’re playing my team. They can get their morale-boosting wins against other teams, not mine.

The SAMP™ prediction is for a comfortable win:

SAMP–5Sale 35 – 16 Newcastle
SAMP–10Sale 27 – 17 Newcastle

Let’s see if we can improve on those scores.

Posted in match reports

View from the south stand: Sale 25 Bristol 20 [GP]

Posted on by an old grey dog

Rugby to give you heart failure is back in Salford. Squeaky bum time just doesn’t do that last ten minutes justice. Flashbacks to watching Dr Who from behind the sofa as a kid.

On paper, this should have been a fairly comfortable win: we have a good record against Bristol and they’re having a pretty torrid time of it this season. Second against tenth shouldn’t be hugely difficult, right?

Yeah, but rugby’s not played on paper. Take some key players still missing for Sale and the return of Luatua for Bristol, and things looked a bit less cut-and-dried than they may have seemed.

The first half was pretty even: Tom Roebuck appeared to have scored a Denny-esque try early on, but it was ruled out on review. Then Bristol butchered a chance of their own before Rob opened the scoring in the eighth minute after some sustained pressure enabled by a succession of Bristol penalties.

Halfway into the half, Bristol took the lead with a – let’s not be ungenerous, here – gorgeously worked try for O’Connor.

Three minutes later, Roebuck got his try, deftly nicking Rob’s high cross-kick from Piatau’s grasp and sprinting over the line. Fifteen-seven and on track…

Yeah, of course not. Within a few minutes, O’Connor had scored his second and Bristol were only one point behind.

Then, remarkably, only a couple of minutes before half-time, Sale gave up their first penalty to allow Bristol to clear their half. Then they gave up their second, which AJ kicked easily to give the Bears a two-point lead at half-time.

If the first half was fairly even, the second was anything but. Bristol must have had 80–90% of the possession and territory in the second half, but a 47th-minute penalty was all they ultimately had to show for it (only three penalties given away in forty-seven minutes: surprising; two of them kickable: obviously). Rob nullified that a couple of minutes later with a well-taken kick of his own.

The rest of the half basically consisted of Sale closing down and beating back wave after wave of Bristol attacks. Then, well into the final quarter, in what felt like Sale’s only incursion into the Bristol 22, Jean-Luc scored the (converted) try that proved to be the eventual difference between the teams.

We were then subjected to five minutes of nail-clenching, bum-biting [? shurely shome mishtake – Ed] agony as Bristol mounted a furious assault on the Sale try line. Like a storm surge on speed, Bristol mounted wave after wave of attack on the Sale try line. But Sale’s defence was the sea wall dissipating the energy of each attack, sapping the will until, finally, Bristol’s hopes were dashed as Jenkins appeared to be in for the score, but was bundled into touch in goal. Twenty-two drop-out, pressure relieved, wear down the clock and finally hoof the ball to the back of the east stand.

Job done.

I daresay there was much head-scratching and pondering in the Bristol camp over their abject failure to convert all that second-half possession (they should have had six points, but AJ absolutely skanked a sitter).

But I’m more concerned about Sale’s propensity to hand the initiative to the opposition after half-time, and their seeming inability to get it back once lost.

In most games, there is an ebb and flow as one team gains the upper hand for a while, then the other is on top, and so on, back and forth. But for several seasons now, Sale seem to have difficulty getting back on top, especially after the break, and spend extended periods under pressure. This tends to raise the penalty count as they defend ever more desperately (Sale gave away nine penalties in this game, the fourth being given in the sixtieth minute. More than half of the penalties Sale gave away came in the final quarter).

I mean, all praise to Forsh for the immense job he’s done with the defence, but I’d like to spend a bit less time appreciating that and more time cheering the attack. So far this season, we’ve had 46% of the possession and 50% of the territory. At home, those numbers are 45% and 47%. At our own place, we spend less time with the ball than the visitors and spend more time in our own half than they do in theirs.

The fact that we are winning so much this season sort of papers over that statistic somewhat. “Hey, we’re winning! Isn’t that what counts?” Maybe, but would we have nine, not seven, in the “W” column if we spent more time attacking and a bit less defending? Might we have more than four try bonus points? Might we be the ones looking down on the others with the benefit of an eleven-point gap, rather than looking nervously at a two-point gap (as of game 1, Round 12 – I’m very late with this one)?

I hope someone is looking at this because it concerns me and is the principal reason that I feel so nervous going onto any game: the possibility that we’ll hand the initiative over and then struggle for the rest of the match.

On the plaudits front, this game could have been headlined “du Preez family 20, Bristol 20”, with just Tom Roebuck stopping the clean sweep. We all know what the huge twins bring, so there’s no reason to belabour the point, but let’s just stop and bask in the rise and rise of Rob. It’s been remarked several times in the past that Rob is a confidence player and, boy, is his confidence sky-high at the moment. I think this shows most clearly in the fact that he missed his first kick (it wasn’t easy, but not impossible) but went on to kick all the others. Not so long ago, missing the first would have led to a very patchy kicking display.

Gus Warr had a decent game and Simpson came and provided about a hundred years’ worth of experience when it mattered.

Is the line-out an issue? Well, we lost three out of seventeen, so not perfect, but not hopeless. At least one of those three was down to the lifters not doing their job, rather than Akker’s throwing so, if there is an issue, it’s a collective responsibility.

As for the scrum, we won two, lost none and mullered two of theirs, so that’s a positive. It’s also good to see that we have multiple viable options in the front row: no change in intensity when the replacements came on. Where’s Coenie, by the way?

So, another week off, whilst teams around us catch up on games played. We’re guaranteed to be still in second place after this round, but the gap is getting smaller. Fortunately, nobody is close enough with games in hand to catch us, so continuing in second place is in our own hands.

That will have to wait for a couple of weeks, though, as there’s a small matter of the Heineken Cup coming up. Ulster at home first, then Toulouse away (our first away game since Saracens on the 30th October).

The Super-Accurate Mystic Predictor™ was a bit under the weather this time, overestimating the margin of victory quite considerably (but at least it got the “win” part of it right). The next game in the league is Newcastle, but that’s not until after the Toulouse game, so predictions will appear in that report.