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By Ian Todd
March 6 2011

In an entertaining, if messy, contest Bristol claimed a semi-final berth in the redundantly named British and Irish cup. The poor crowd saw Bristol run in four tries to three and just do enough to stay in front of a side that refused to give up when Bristol scored the early points.

An early penalty miss from Ed Barnes actually allowed Bristol to mount a dangerous attack when the ball was run straight back from the restart to just outside the Ayr five metre line.  A stabbed kick cleared the ball back out to the 22 but the Bristol lineout drive was too strong for the visitors and they were penalised.  The ball was sent to touch for another powerful lineout catch-and-drive and this time the ball was popped out to Jack Gadd who had a clear run in to score an unconverted try.

Bristol continued to look sharp and quick ball saw Anthony Elliott go close before he passed out of the tackle to James Merriman to cruise over for a try converted by Barnes and a 12 - 0 lead.  Despite continued forward dominance, Bristol lacked the killer punch.  Elliott had another good run but the support was lacking.  The pressure told when an Ayr player was sin-binned for failing to roll away.  Typically things promptly fell apart for Bristol when a farcical bit of defending let in a soft, but unconverted, try for the visitors.

Ayr were revitalised by this and  took the game to a rather surprised looking Bristol.  A break in play allowed Bristol to regroup and Ayr saw another man go to the bin just before the previous was due to return.  Briefly playing a 13-man side, Bristol took full advantage and the driving maul hammered through the depleted defence for Merriman to touch  down for his second and a 19 - 5 lead.  Numbers evened up when Mark Irish was yellow-carded just before half-time but fortunately for the hosts the penalty kick was wide as the half drew to a close.

Bristol got off to the best possible start when Ayr completely failed  to control the restart kick and George Watkins pounced to scamper over for a converted try and a commanding 26 - 5 lead.  The game now became pretty unstructured and it was the turn of Ayr to take advantage of Bristol's absent player and the defence was cut to ribbons for a try that captain Iain Grieve sustained an injury in his efforts to stop the ball being grounded.  The delayed conversion sailed over to take the score to 26 - 12.

Ayr looked lively and inventive as they probed for a weak spot in the defensive line, but Bristol managed to hold firm.  The match became further disrupted when Mariano Sambucetti was, after some confusion, sent to the sin-bin.  Ayr forced Bristol back but turned over the ball just short of the line.  They kept up the pressure and an excellent cross-field kick looked almost certain to fashion a try but a knock-on let Bristol off  for the moment.  Finally Ayr managed to find a way through with a well executed move that again saw the defensive line disrupted.  The score stood at 26 - 19 after the conversion.

A penalty edged Bristol more than a converted try in front but Ayr continued to play good, open rugby with the match continuing to lack any pattern.  Bristol had to work hard to keep the visiting side in check for the remainder of the match but managed to close out the game with no further score from either team.