That was a victory as good as tasting fine dining at a Michelin-starred restaurant.
Those of us Bristol supporters who have undertaken the Kingsholm experience will know just how difficult a place it is to win, in fact this was only our third victory there since 2006 and the previous two had come behind closed doors during the Covid lockdown. Rare as rocking horse deposits my mate would say!
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For those who haven’t been, I could not recommend it highly enough. The second you step off the train you immediately feel like you’re in bandit country. Walking down St Aldgate Street you can see the Cherry and White flags flying proudly outside the pubs and the locals are always keen to talk Rugby with banter in equal measure.
This is a fixture steeped in Rugby heritage and tradition, one that invokes passion and heart. Full bloodied commitment that spills over the brim. A fixture perfectly categorised in 2006 by that dogfight at the Mem when Jason Strange kicked the last-minute drop goal sending us briefly to the top of the Premiership table. This Ladies and Gentlemen is the Rifles Cup.
Saturday’s encounter had every ounce of the above. From the kick-off off it was exhilarating, both teams' commitment to attack made this a perfect occasion for both sets of fans and neutrals watching on the box. As frustrating as it has been to have missed watching our Bears for the last 7 weeks, we have used this period to get our injured players fit and now Pat Lam can call on all his big guns I just felt that we always had the extra ammunition to win this game.
Four wins on the spin have pushed us up to sixth in the table and with only 4 points separating us with Bath in second place; we are right back in the mix for the Top 4. Most pleasing of all is that we are reinvigorated and more importantly, we are doing it the Bears way. Now we must show the same level of consistency in the remaining fixtures and see how far it takes us, you never know Bears fans this might be the season we sit at the top table and experience fine dining after all?
