Rugby / Bristol Bears
More than just a match
As the match ball arrived onto the Ashton Gate pitch, rugby fans outside the stadium were still enjoying the fan village: stocking up on hog roasts, burgers and two-pint mugs of beer or cider that then had to be carefully manoeuvred to their seats.
Friday night saw Bristol Bears take on Bath in the opening game of this season’s Gallagher Premiership and the score of 17-10.
Bristol’s players had come onto the immaculate Ashton Gate pitch to a blast of pyrotechnics.
is needed now More than ever
But this was much more than just a game of rugby.
This was the first ever game of rugby for the Bristol Bears, it was against Bristol’s fiercest local rivals, it was the culmination of months of build-up and it was played at a sold-out Ashton Gate in front of 26,079 fans in the stadium and countless more live on television.
BT Sport expert analyst and former England scrum half Austin Healey had got into the spirit of the occasion by wearing glittery headphones that would not have looked out of place on his groovy namesake Powers.
The razzmatazz continued on the pitch as well with Bath’s Tom Homer cartwheeling over the line for what looked like the first try of the game, only for the TV match official to rule that he had not grounded the ball. D’oh!
He did make up for this, however, by scoring a legitimate try in the second half.
A band, Guinness and Butcombe bar provided much of the entertainment in the fan village outside the stadium
Inside – where the South Stand had been rechristianed as the Bearpit – both halves lasted much longer than their regulation 40 minutes due to stoppages, ‘wave cam’ was one way of keeping the crowd entertained
Bath took the lead for the first time with 17 minutes to go
But when Alapati Leiua scored a try in the corner making the score 17-10 with just over five minutes left to play, the roar of the Bears fans could probably be heard across Bristol.
The roar was even louder a few minutes later but the try was disallowed for a forward pass. Justice prevailed, however, and the Wurzels serenaded the victorious Bears off the Ashton Gate pitch.
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
