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Bristol hold on for hard-fought Premiership victory over Worcester

(Photo by Harry Trump/Getty Images)

Bristol celebrated a third-straight Gallagher Premiership win with a hard-fought 13-10 victory over a spirited Worcester at Ashton Gate.

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After wins over Gloucester and Northampton in recent weeks, Bears consolidated their top-four position but manager Pat Lam will be concerned at how wasteful they were, which allowed Worcester to remain in the game longer than they might have done.

Luke Morahan crossed over for Bristol with Callum Sheedy adding a conversion and two penalties.

Nick David responded with a try for Worcester which Duncan Weir successfully converted, while Scott Van Breda added a penalty.

Worcester made a horrendous start when Duncan Weir fumbled the kick-off before number eight Cornell Du Preez knocked on as he tried to retrieve the outside half’s error.

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WATCH: Wales post-match press conference with head coach Wayne Pivac and captain Alun Wyn Jones after 27-23 Guinness Six Nations defeat to France in Cardiff.

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It should have proved costly as Warriors were subjected to a barrage of early pressure but the hosts declined a number of kickable penalties and were not clinical enough to capitalise on their decision.

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It was obvious that Bristol had a mindset to move the ball at every opportunity but in the first 20 minutes, they were frenetic with too many forced passes not going to hand.

The opening quarter was therefore scoreless with Worcester having one of the better opportunities to score but full-back Jamie Shillcock’s pass failed to find Ted Hill, with the flanker having an unopposed run to the line.

Bristol looked to have learnt their lesson to take the points on offer when Sheedy put them in front with a 50-metre penalty after 22 minutes.

Warriors then suffered an injury blow when centre Ashley Beck departed with a shoulder problem and almost immediately suffered a further setback when Bears scored the opening try.

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Scrum-half Harry Randall quickly took a tap penalty to combine with Charles Piutau, whose pass sent Morahan in under the posts. Sheedy’s conversion gave his side a deserved 10-0 interval lead.

Within two minutes of the restart, Worcester responded with an excellent try.

From inside their own half, Ollie Lawrence began the breakout before a strong run down the left flank by replacement Van Breda provided the opportunity to send David over.

Du Preez was sin-binned for a high challenge on Sheedy but even then, Bristol could not capitalise and – with 12 minutes remaining – Van Breda brought the scores level with a 45-metre penalty.

Du Preez returned but Andrew Kitchener soon replaced him in the bin for a deliberate offside – which gave Sheedy the chance to kick the decisive penalty.

There was still time for Sheedy to miss with his next effort before Chris Vui lost possession in the process of crashing over.

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J
JW 24 minutes ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

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