Old Bristolians 30 – 12 Bristol Harlequins

Debutant Ben Littleton scored after only a couple of minutes from the base of a five metre scrum, and continued to make significant inroads throughout the game into the Quins defence until he was forced off late with an injury.

The wet conditions meant the game was kept fairly tight, but when the ball was moved wide, the OBs backs looked dangerous. The Quins defence was fairly resolute and they keenly contested the breakdown. The conditions prevented some of the ambitious OB offloads from sticking. The pack continued to be dominant in both the scrum and the line out, but it took a while for full back Dan Evans to be put into space by some quick ball and excellent hands, and he duly slid over the line near the corner flag.

Fly half Keir Chastney added a penalty and kicked a conversion to put OBs into a comfortable first half lead.

The second half started as the first finished, with the set piece going well, the breakdown being a fierce contest but when the ball had width, OBs looked likely to score.

Winger Garth Hannaford soon benefited from the tempo set by the forwards, and when the ball was spun wide he dived over in the corner.

Some good Quins defence prevented several promising attacks being converted, but the momentum was firmly with OBs. An excellent move down the right hand side of the pitch, saw Garth Hannaford, hooker Jon Whiteman and skipper Mike Barton put flanker Tristan Fowler in for his first try of the season and to secure the try bonus point.

Dan Evans completed a double shortly after, again following quick ball and some good handling.

Quins scored a couple of tries, one a good team effort and the second a well taken individual try.

OBs go into the Christmas break happy to have secured a comfortable win, but generally disappointed with the overall results so far. Plenty of hard work required in 2013 to realise the ambitions of the club.
Merry Christmas.