Bristol Bears currently second placed in the Gallagher Premiership rolled into Dillingham Park with a clear intent to set about the Mob on their own patch.
Pat Lamb, Director of Rugby at the Bears showed how seriously he was taking the fixture by naming players with hundreds of appearances in the Gallagher Premiership as well as full Internationals from the All Blacks, Springboks, Pumas and Fiji to add to some amazing and no doubt future internationals from the younger contingent who completed the Bears match day 23.
To say this was a clash of David and Goliath proportions would be a fair reflection with just one of the Bears star-packed squad earning as much as the whole of the Ampthill team.
The Mob weren’t over-awed by their opponents and took the game to the Bears from the first whistle. Indeed, with a luckier bounce of the ball and a little more composure Ampthill could have scored first – Man of the Match Mason Cullen breaking the line before being called back for a knock-on.
The Bears aren’t second in the Premiership by chance and quickly clicked into gear, scoring the first try of the match in the 6th minute. With their first sustained attack in Ampthill’s 22, Benjamin Grondona eventually grounded the ball from close range, and following a conversion from Harry Bryne, the visitors led 0-7.
Bristol’s quality began to show, scoring three tries in the space of 6 minutes to create a 24 point advantage after 18 minutes. Deago Bailey applied the finish in the left corner in the 11th minute, Noah Heward sprinted away to dot down in the 15th minute, and Bailey scored his second try of the afternoon just two minutes later, also running it in from a distance.
Ampthill responded well to the early onslaught, scoring their first try of the match in the 19th minute to reduce the deficit to 17 points. After a loose pass from the Bears, Mason Cullen kicked the ball into the in goal area, and managed to beat the recovering Bristol defender to ground the ball. Following a Josh Barton conversion, Ampthill trailed 7-24 after 20 minutes.
The Ampthill line-out was working well – the Mob only lost one line out in the whole 80 minutes, and the scrum was more than holding its own against a very well drilled Bristol pack. This was a platform for the Mob to launch multiple attacks of their own and against a lesser defence would have troubled the scorekeeper more. The difference between the teams was an exceptional Bears back line marshalled by Irish International scrum-half Kieran Marmion with Fijian powerhouse Kalaveti Ravouvou in the centres and some of the brightest young talent in the Premiership in the back three.
The visitors repelled every Ampthill attempt to get a foot hold in the game, using their experience to contain the Mob attack and scored another three tries before half time to extend their advantage to 34 points and a 7-41 lead at half time.
Ampthill came out first for the second half, and playing with the wind and down the slope looked to get themselves back in the game. The Mob continued to create opportunities but the Bears defence stood firm. Bristol punished every Ampthill mistake and scored four tries to extend their lead to 7-69.
With just under fifteen minutes to play both teams introduced their final replacements – the Mob bringing on veteran Tongan hooker Aleki Lutui for his 162nd appearance in maroon and gold plus Chinnor loanee Cam Rafferty in the back row. In contrast Lam introduced All Black Steven Luatua and club captain Fitz Harding to close out the game.
This didn’t stop the Mob from scoring their second and final try of the match with four minutes remaining, a clever move down the left-hand side started by Roan Frostwick off the back of an attacking scrum, replacement wing Oran McNulty beating his man to cut inside and score. With the part-time Mob clearly tiring against their esteemed opponents, Bristol would score the final try of the match on 80 minutes, stretching the play from end to end and England U20 star Joe Jenkins managing to ground the ball in the corner, Springbok Benhard Janse van Rensburg missing the conversion from the touchline for a final score of 14-74 but the Mob gaining credit from their opponents and plenty of positives to take into next weeks tie against Premiership leaders Bath at The Rec.
Speaking after his side’s defeat, Ampthill Head Coach Paul Turner said. ““We put Bristol under a great deal of pressure today and they made lots of errors in both halves. We just didn’t capitalise on these and they showed their quality and ran away with it at the end. I couldn’t fault our players endeavour today, it was top notch against quality premiership opposition. I’m proud of our players effort they will learn a lot from these games.”.
Ampthill are away to Premiership leaders Bath at The Rec next weekend before renewing rivalries with Bedford Blues on The Olney Field on Sat 15th February. Tickets available at https://tinyurl.com/ARUFC2024-25
Ampthill Points Scorers
Tries: Cullen 19, McNulty 76
Conversions: Barton 20, 77
Biere 1664 Man of the Match: Mason Cullen
Attendance: 1056
Ampthill Starting XV:
1. James Flynn 2. Luke Thompson 3. James Johnston 4. Arthur Thomas 5. Jake Parkinson6.Charles Rylands 7. Max Clementson 8. Lekima Ravuvu 9. Rory Morgan 10. Josh Barton 11. Vereimi Qorowale 12. Fraser Strachan (c) 13. Sione Vaenuku 14. Mason Cullen 15. Evan Mitchell
Replacements:
16. Aleki Lutui 17. Richard Barrington 18.Callum Norrie 19. Tino Mapapalangi 20. Cameron Rafferty 21. Roan Frostwick 22. Byron Sharwood 23. Oran McNulty
Bristol Bears
15. Benjamin Elizalde (13 apps), 14. Noah Heward (25 apps), 13. Kalaveti Ravouvou (21 apps), 12. Joe Jenkins (23 apps), 11. Deago Bailey (15 apps), 10. Harry Byrne (4 apps), 9. Kieran Marmion (41 apps); 1. Yann Thomas (c) (123 apps), 2. Will Capon (94 apps), 3. George Kloska (55 apps), 4. Josh Caulfield (28 apps), 5. Steele Barker (3 apps), 6. Santiago Grondona (9 apps), 7. Kofi Cripps (1 app), 8. Benjamin Grondona (15 apps).
System players: 16. Tomas Gwilliam (4 apps), 17. Andrew Turner (9 apps), 18. Jimmy Halliwell (9 apps), 19. Steven Luatua (144 apps), 20. Fitz Harding (87 apps), 21. Sam Edwards (3 apps), 22. Benhard Janse van Rensburg (40 apps), 23. Rich Lane (51 apps)