Bristol’s big guns ‘will fire them to promotion’

Bristol‘s experience on and off the field will carry them across the Championship promotion line to the Aviva Premiership, according to Cornish Pirates boss Ian Davies.
The big-spending West Country outfit are set to go head-to-head with London Welsh plus Yorkshire rivals Leeds and Rotherham for that coveted top-flight place.
But in assessing the chances of the four main contenders, Pirates director of rugby Davies, believes Bristol have too many cards stacked in their favour to fail.
“There’s a massive amount of pressure on Bristol to go up but the difference with them now is they’ve got two guys in charge, Andy Robinson and Sean Holley, who’ve been involved in bigger games than Championship play-offs,” said Davies.
“What Bristol have done very well in my eyes is rotated the squad, kept people fresh and not just gone hard at it to win every game. And just looking at their depth of squad and experience in there, they’ve got a very good spine to their team.
“Fly-half Nicky Robinson is their main man – been there, done it, got the T-shirt. He makes a huge difference to them and although he’s been a bit up and down this season, when it matters he turns it on and that’s what you want from your really big players.
“In guys like Nicky, Ben Skirving and Mark Sorenson, Bristol have got guys who have been around the Premiership for a long time. If they have a weakness, it’s perhaps closing games off and they have conceded quite a few tries. But my money is on them to go up.”
This is how Davies sees the other promotion contenders stacking up:
LONDON WELSH
Defensively, London Welsh are the strongest of the four. They take real pride in their defence, hate to concede, and in tight affairs someone like fly-half Gordon Ross can control a game, while Alex Davies is deadly off the kicking tee and has been there before.
London Welsh are also pretty relentless in attack. They’ve got big guys who carry well and while Justin Burnell, their head coach, said a few weeks ago that they’re more than just a team of bashers … believe me, they bash and they’re very good at it.
Ultimately, though, Bristol will have too much for them.
ROTHERHAM TITANS
Lee Blackett has done a fantastic job up there and you know they’re going to play for the whole 80 minutes. The Rotherham of old were very big and lumpy and you knew they’d run out of steam after 50 minutes, but Lee’s got his team firing on all cylinders and Juan Pablo Socino is in great form with the boot.
They’re dangerous because nobody expects them to do anything. My only worry is the depth of their squad and will they have the players to survive the battle?
They could certainly upset the applecart and on their day they’re very dangerous, but Rotherham haven’t been in this position before and pressure could tell.
LEEDS CARNEGIE
If my favourite team to watch could be promoted, it would be Leeds. They’re playing some really good stuff and Jimmy Lowes has got them very attack-orientated. Leeds were in the play-offs last year as well so they’ve got that experience, which is important.
However, I don’t think that Leeds’ front five is as strong as Bristol’s or London Welsh’s and that’s where they could come unstuck.
Calum Green I rate very highly, which is why he’s going to Newcastle, but I’m not sure that they have the depth up front for four intense games.
But if Leeds do get into a game where the ball is being thrown around, then watch out because they’ve got a very potent back-three.
NEALE HARVEY