Bristol Bears bounce back with 21-13 win over Gloucester

Bristol Bears 21-13 Gloucester Rugby, Ashton Gate

Bristol Bears got their first win of the Premiership Rugby Cup as they outplayed Gloucester Rugby 21-13 at Ashton Gate.

The win has taken Bristol Bears to the second position in Pool 3 with Gloucester slipping to the third place.

The teams struggled to score a point until the 27th minute when Nick Haining crossed over and Callum Sheedy slotted the conversion that took Bristol to 7-0 lead. Gloucester suffered a setback when Kyle Traynor was sin-binned in the 34th minute but the home side could not quite make use of the advantage.

Gloucester finally opened their account three minutes into the second half when Owen Williams kicked a penalty goal and six minutes later he kicked another three-pointer as the gap between the two teams came down to just one point.

With 14 minutes left into the game, Bristol stepped up the gears with tries from Dan Thomas and Jake Heenan in the 66th and 75th minutes as they stretched the lead to 21-6. In what was a dramatic final minute, Bristol Bears had Thomas and Ryan Edwards sin-binned and a penalty try was awarded to Gloucester but it wasn't quite enough as they succumbed to a 21-13 defeat.

“When we lost to Worcester Warriors it was the best thing for us," said Bristol head coach Pat Lam.

“We have all been through a bit of adversity, so now we need some growth going on in our games.

“The next four or five weeks is like a mini pre-season to give everyone an opportunity when we get back to the Premiership.”