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Bristol hold on for hard-fought Premiership victory over Worcester
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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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.
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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.
