A game played out in the eye of Storm Bert, Premiership Bristol Bears ran out 40 v 15 winners at Ashton Gate Stadium despite a battling performance from the Mob.
Bristol demonstrated their intent to attack from the first whistle but found the Ampthill defence resolute in the early exchanges and it was the visitors who would open the scoring.
Awarded a penalty just inside the hosts half, captain Josh Barton pointed to the posts and dissected the uprights with the resulting kick on 13 minutes. 0-3.
Bears response was immediate. Reclaiming the ball from the kick-off, quick ball through the backs to the left wing who scored in the corner. Conversion missed 5-3.
Bristol doubled their advantage five minutes later. After successfully defending a maul from a five metre line out, the referee awarded a second penalty and this time the hosts pack drove over. A successful conversion 12-3.
Three penalties in three minutes produced Bristols third try. Twice Ampthill held them up on the line but the third attempt saw their captain drive over under the posts from a 5m tap! 19-3 and 30 minutes played.
The final ten minutes of the half would ultimately take the game away from the Mob. Callum Norrie was judged to have collapsed the maul, receiving a yellow card which gave Bristol a penalty try on 34 minutes and a minute later the Bears capitalised on their numerical advantage slicing through a gap in the Ampthill defence and sliding in between the posts for their fifth try and a 33-3 half time lead.
Ampthill came out firing for the second half but couldn’t find a way through the Bristol defence.
A 57th minute yellow for Bristol gave Ampthill an advantage and minutes later scored their first try in the Cup this season – a looping pass from Barton finding Scottish wing Kerr Johnston who beat his defender to dive over in the corner. 33-8
Bath responded with a similar sixth try of their own before Ampthill dominated territory and possession for the final ten minutes and got their reward with a second try for the other Johnston, replacement prop James after patient phases in the gold zone. A simple conversion for Barton leaving the final score 40-15.
Head Coach Paul Turner took positives from the game.
“Bristol Bears deserved their victory but the scoreline doesn’t really tell the full story.
We made too many errors in the first half under limited pressure and they proved costly. We allowed Bristol to go to their drill and they took a commanding lead into half time at 33-3.
After the break I thought we were at our belligerent best and started and ended it well. We scored 2 tries and threatened for others.
Todays performance is a major step forward leading us into our next block of five league games before and around Xmas.”
Full match report to follow.
Ampthill Points Scorers:
Tries: Johnston, K (59), Johnston, J 79)
Conversions: Barton (80)
Penalty: Barton (13)
