Bristol Uni Home, 2nds
9-19 Josh Cockburn (5), Gareth Thomas (2), Steve Fung (1), Joey Niblett (1), Chrissy Rowlatt, Gwen Jones, Hannah Blackmore, Kate Jones, Chris Gubby
Bristol Uni brought along a very strong second team featuring their two strongest players from last years first team, as well as plenty of athleticism in the rest of the side, and the match was played at a breathless pace. Dragons were very short of experience in their girls, with Amy, Donna and Julie unavailable and Caroline promoted to the firsts. However, they also had plenty of pace and attacking potential in their guys.
The first half took a few minutes to get going as both sides found their range, before Joey scored from long range. This started a burst of goals as the Badgers grabbed a quick pair of goals before Josh won and scored a penalty. The uni team then began to gain control with very accurate shooting at one end, and running in shots at the end. Josh’s long shot was the only response as Bristol led 6-3. Then Dragons produced their best passage of attacking, sparked by Steve’s goal from under the post, before Gareth finished neatly off a side feed and Josh got his second from half way. Bristol hit straight back with 2 goals, before Gareth again found space behind the Uni boys and slotted his second runner. There was still time for the Badgers to close a frantic half with their ninth goal and a two goal cushion.
In the first half the Dragons had managed to keep in the game by scoring with nearly every attack at one end, while Joey and Steve kept recycling the ball at the other. However, this was unsustainable and with the students continuing to score with a very high proportion of their long shots, the second half proved very tough. Josh managed a couple of goals, but otherwise it was one way traffic and the final score was a 19-9 win for the away team.
Dragons always looked dangerous in attack against a very strong team, but ultimately were undone by a combination of experience and fine shooting from Bristol Uni. There is no shame in the result against such a powerful team though.