Bristol seek to sign off in style
Fri, 02 May 2008 15:16
With Bristol Rugby preparing to say a temporary goodbye to the Memorial Stadium, head coach Richard Hill gives several departing players a final run out at the old ground in a Guinness Premiership game against Worcester Warriors on Saturday.
It's Bristol's final home Premiership fixture of the season and, with the Memorial Stadium set to undergo a massive redevelopment, some players will be featuring there for the final time.
Sam Cox, Rob Higgitt, Dave Hilton and Jason Strange are all set to leave the club at the end of the season and all four are named in the starting line up to face Worcester.
"The atmosphere is almost second to none at the Memorial Stadium. There's a really close link between the players and the supporters," Hill said.
"There's no doubt that at difficult times over the past few years, the Memorial Stadium has been a huge factor in us winning matches. We've had some great occasions there.
"We still watch clips of certain matches such as the one against Gloucester last season where Jason Strange dropped the winning goal and the looks on the faces of the supporters and players alike are still fantastic to see."
But there is still a game against Worcester to be played and Hill was quick to remind everyone that the Warriors still have plenty to play for.
"Worcester had a pretty poor start but improved massively when they finally got their best XV out on the field. There's no doubt about that. They've got their confidence up, have had a good run of results and have an exciting European Challenge Cup against Bath to look forward to.
"They'll want to continue that run and will be confident of doing so against us and then against Newcastle in their final league game. They've an exciting three weeks ahead.
"But we lost quite badly at their place which was a low point for us so we'll be looking to turn that around."
Bristol Rugby: 15 Luke
Arscott, 14 Lee Robinson, 13 Rob Higgitt, 12 Sam Cox, 11 David Lemi, 10 Jason Strange, 9 Shaun Perry (captain), 8 Dan Ward-Smith, 7 Iain Grieve, 6 Alfie To'oala, 5 Nathan Budgett, 4 Mariano Sambucetti, 3 Darren Crompton, 2 Mark Regan, 1 Dave Hilton.
Replacements: 16 Scott Linklater, 17 Peter Bracken, 18 Sean Hohneck, 19 Redford Pennycook, 20 Graeme Beveridge, 21 Ed Barnes, 22 Neil Brew.
Date: Saturday, May 3
Venue: Memorial Stadium, Bristol
Kick-off: 15.00 (14.00 GMT)
Referee: Ashley Rowden
Touch judges: Paul Dickens, Peter Huckle
TMO: Matt Peters
