BRISTOL WITHSTOOD A brave comeback from Doncaster Knights to end their long wait for promotion to the Aviva Premiership with a 60-47 aggregate victory in the Championship play-off final.
Despite topping the regular-season standings for five of the past seven seasons in English rugby’s second tier, Bristol — for whom former Leinster prop Jack O’Connell started tonight in their front row — have repeatedly failed to make it through the play-offs.
However, after a 28-13 win at Castle Park last week, tonight’s 34-32 defeat in front of a packed house at Ashton Gate [the 16,084 attendance was a Championship record] was not enough to deny Andy Robinson’s side, who have lost three finals since their relegation from the top flight in 2009.
Doncaster – with Irish duo Declan Cusack and Michael Heaney at half-back — had threatened a revival when Will Hurrell went over late in the first half, yet Bristol’s response through Will Cliff was immediate.
A disallowed try early in the second felt like the end of the visitors’ challenge, but Bristol soon looked in danger of succumbing to a similar collapse to the one that cost them against Worcester Warriors last year, as Paul Jarvis, Tyson Lewis and Ollie Stedman crossed.
Bristol stopped the rot with six minutes left on the clock, James Phillips forcing his way over before Callum Sheedy added the extras, and Latu Makaafi’s late try for Doncaster was of little consequence.
