At times it seemed as if Steven Spielberg might have had a hand in directing the opening to the Gallagher Premiership rugby season as seen at Ashton Gate, where Bristol Bears took on Bath.
There may not have been a jungle, a temple, traps or anyone fleeing a runaway boulder,
But even Indiana Jones might have found matters more than a bit hectic in a pulsating and chaotic start to the campaign on the eastern side of the River Severn.
Before the break, a quartet of touchdowns had been run in, with one try after 57 seconds; a huge scrap had erupted and a replacement who hadn't even taken the field had been red carded. Two other players had been sin-binned. Because of the late rescheduling of the fixture, no TMO was on hand to help the referee make sense of all the craziness.
Wales international Callum Sheedy was among those to incur the wrath of referee Tom Foley in the first 40. He was yellow carded after a dust-up following Bristol wing Luke Morahan's score in the corner. When the melee had finally blown itself out, Sheedy was pointed to the cooler with Bath’s still-bibbed replacement hooker Niall Annett seeing red. You can read about how Sheedy went from cloud nine to 'rock bottom' here.
The debut-making Ellis Genge had touched down within the first minute for Bristol, one of two scores for the England international during a man-of-the-match performance. Another newcomer, Magnus Bradbury, followed him over the try line with Ben Spencer dotting down for Bath.
With Morahan also scoring and Bath centre Will Butt yellow carded, the opening half had contained everything and a bit more.
Spurred by the boot of fly-half Piers Francis, the visitors then fought back to put themselves into a winning position. But there had to be a final twist and replacement Bristol hooker Will Capon duly helped deliver it, crossing for a try which AJ MacGinty converted for a 31-29 home win.
On social media, one poster asked: "Who needs a TMO?"
Annett later took to social media to say: “Just want to apologise to everyone associated with @BathRugby. Not how I saw my first game going and deeply embarrassed and disappointed in myself. Players, staff, fans and everyone else associated, sorry for my actions.”
HIs carding will eventually be forgotten. But this game won't.
Someone present called it riotous. He wasn't dealing in wild exaggeration.
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