Throwback Thursday 🏉
Bristol Bears will be playing their 1,000th competitive game in the clubs history this weekend, let’s go back to their 1st competitive game when they took on the mighty Lyd
Match report by Mark Hoskins from Bristol Bears website
Monday, November 1st 1971
Bristol 32-9 Lydney
A bit of club history was made at the Memorial Ground on Monday November 1st, 1971, when Bristol played their first match in the RFU’s new club knockout competition. The early rounds were intentionally regional, with Gloucester playing Bath at the same stage of the competition. It was Bristol’s fourth home game in ten days, and thirteen of the side which played against Aberavon two days earlier turned out again. The changes saw Roger Swaffield come in for Chris Williams, while Mike Fry replaced Hamish Bryce.
There was a surprise start to the evening, with Lydney taking the lead after nine minutes. John Morris’s penalty kick towards touch was fumbled by Dave Tyler, and Dave Dibbell snapped up the loose ball and sprinted thirty yards to score. Morris converted, and then proceeded to torment Bristol with some well-placed high kicks. He increased his side’s lead with a twenty-five yard penalty goal, and Lydney were still 9-0 ahead after nearly half an hour. Then Nick Evans transformed the game with a brilliant break. He beat six men in a dazzling race to the line, and soon afterwards he set off on a spectacular forty-yard sprint to set up a try for John White. Alan Pearn converted the second try, and added the extras again after Dave Tyler had forced his way over the line. This gave Bristol a 16-9 half time lead.
Lydney still looked threatening in the second half. Morris missed a straightforward penalty, and David Crabbe twice came close to scoring a try. However, Bristol eventually raised the siege, and after Pearn had kicked a penalty, Dave Rollitt charged down a Morris kick and Charlie Hannaford scored his side’s fourth try. Another Pearn penalty followed, and the scoring concluded with the best move of the match. Peter Knight exchanged passes with Evans in his own twenty-five, and Hannaford and Dave Phillips carried on the move before giving Jon Gabitass the space to burst clear. Pearn converted, and Bristol were safely through to the next round.
Bristol: N D Evans, D G Tyler, J R Gabitass, R L Swaffield, P M Knight, A H Nicholls ©, A F A Pearn, A J Rogers, J R White, M J Fry, P A Brown, R J Orledge, D M Rollitt, D A Phillips, R C Hannaford
Tries: Evans, White, Tyler, Hannaford, Gabitass
Con: Pearn (3)
Pen: Pearn (2)
Lydney: J Evans, D T Crabbe, N Halford, P Kingston, D J Dibbell, C G Williams, J F Morris ©, G A F Sargent, D Turley, R Charles, K Lindley, P A Eastwood, M Parr, J Farleigh, C Purvis
Try: Dibbell
Con: Morris
Pen: Morris
Referee: T May (Cornwall)
Man of the Match: John White