Rugby: Jelf inspires North Bristol to crushing victory (From Gazette Series)

Western Counties North: Gordon League 13 North Bristol 46

10:31am Thursday 26th January 2012 in Thornbury Sport

NORTH Bristol recorded their biggest ever away win at Gordon League as they overcome a potential banana skin against the bottom of the table side.

With the wind and the slope to their advantage, North Bristol put points on the board after just five minutes.

A powerful surge from Nigel Smith set up the platform for Alex Cue to switch the play to the blind-side, where great hands from wing Martin Harrex saw Chris Jelf dive in at the corner. An excellent Dan Snow touchline conversion saw North lead 7-0.

Five minutes later a neat chip through from Jonny Gait saw Lee Heal force League into kicking the ball into touch.

From the ensuing lineout a training-ground catch and drive saw prop Alex Vittle claim the try, his first in League rugby.

Jelf was on the scoresheet soon afterwards as he swooped on a dropped ball to score a try. With Snow converting, North led 19-0.

A Gordon League penalty saw them on the scoreboard but after 31 minutes North were back in scoring range.

It looked as if Smith was going to score from another strong surge, but the ball was knocked backwards close to the line, into the hands of John Wood to score the bonus-point try.

It was Gait who set up North’s fifth try as his 40-metre break went close but centre partner Jacob Marsh, enjoying a fine game, was on hand to score.

After 39 minutes Gordon League slotted their second penalty but a Marsh break saw Gait slide under the posts for another North try and with Snow’s conversion it was 6-36 at the interval.

League scored first in the second half, capitalising on two North penalties to score from a catch and drive.

The conversion brought them back to 13-36.

North continued to look to play through the phases and from a Carl Smith break, Cue, sent a superb pass out to replacement Josh Davies for a try in the top corner to seal the game.

In injury time, a long pass from Snow put Gait through the gap on halfway and his well-timed pass to Harrex saw the in-form winger finish with a try to cap a well-worked win away from home.

North Bristol scorers: Tries - Chris Jelf (2), Josh Davies, Jonny Gait, Martin Harrex, Jacob Marsh, Alex Vittle, John Wood; Conversions - Dan Snow (3).

GRFU South One North Bristol 2nds 8 Clifton 3rds 7

Clifton’s desire to overturn their thrashing of earlier in the season was apparent from the outset.

Mike Cantin’s powerful tackles at centre and Rich Foale’s defiance on the wing snuffed out a number of Clifton raids while loose forwards Jake Robertson and Rob Collins made numerous telling tackles too.

Nevertheless a strong scrummage from Martin Green and a Collins-inspired lineout, bolstered by a strong driving maul, continued the streak of good possession which guaranteed them a competitive game.

North may have hoped that a strong following wind might have given them a greater edge by the interval but it was only an Ashley Milburn long-range penalty, from inside his own half, that separated the sides.

The kick took the young back to over 100 points for the season.

Clifton struck at once on the restart for a soft converted try.

It took North a while to regain composure but patches of useful play gave them hope.

It was, however, an astonishing piece of rugby that elevated North Bristol as they scrambled for possession on their own 22.

Rangy lock Dan Purdy picked up and blasted through several despairing Clifton tackles and accelerated away to sprint 80 metres to the visitors’ line leaving shocked defenders for dead in his wake.

The lack of a conversion left the game teetering on a knife-edge for the remaining 15 minutes, but North’s strength of character saw them through to a narrow victory.

North Bristol scorers: Tries - Dan Purdy; Penalty - Ashley Milburn.

GRFU South Three Aretians 3rds 24 North Bristol 3rds 33

A confident North Bristol side earned the bragging rights over neighbours Aretians.

Mark Tudor threatened early on too but it was outstanding centre Hugh Barnes whose support running after a good driven lineout was held up that produced the game’s first try. Dan Harris’ conversion put North 7-0 ahead.

North went 14-0 up as Tudor touched down for Harris to convert.

Strong driving mauls and driven lineouts were a feature for the visitors but it was mercurial scrum-half Nick Tatum’s hand that was able to claim the next try from the middle of another driven maul.

Aretians’ only first half landmark came as North’s defence stumbled, the unconverted try leaving them trailing 5-19 at half-time.

The second half began with further strong carrying from North’s No 8 Tudor, whose try was converted by Harris.

A good counter-attack after North’s fumbled kick off brought Aretians a converted try, though, Barnes nearly replied for North as a length of the field break-out was just held short.

Another converted try from Aretians narrowed the gap, though Ben Purdy’s try from a scrum 15 metres out stretched North’s lead to 33-19 after Harris’ assured conversion.

Aretians scored last but North enjoyed a worthy victory.

North Bristol scorers: Tries - Mark Tudor (2), Hugh Barnes, Ben Purdy, Nick Tatum; Conversions - Dan Harris (4).