Plymouth Albion 8 Bristol 33

PLYMOUTH Albion remain in the Championship bottom four after suffering a defeat against high-flying Bristol at Brickfields on Saturday.

Graham Dawe’s side, fresh from their victory over Nottingham, dominated the first half in terms of possession and territory, but they went in at the interval trailing 12-3 with just a Kieran Hallett penalty to show for all their efforts.

However, Hallett did miss three other penalty attempts that had he kicked them would have seen Albion go in level with their former Premiership opponents.

But the second period saw Bristol take control of the match and although Hallett crossed for Albion’s only try of the game, it was the visitors who claimed the win.

Bristol, relegated from the top flight in April, also secured the bonus point by scoring five tries – the fourth of which came from former Plymouth player Luke Arscott.

The game began with two kicks being charged down in the opening 35 seconds.

Firstly, Tyler Hotson did well to block Adrian Jarvis’ attempted kick upfield.

Then, Albion full-back Hallett attempted a drop-goal, but his kick was blocked by Bristol centre Jack Adams.

It was the hosts who made the better start and they had a great opportunity to take the lead on five minutes when they were awarded a penalty after Bristol were penalised for pulling down a man in the line-out.

However, Hallett’s kick sailed wide right of the posts and the deadlock remained unbroken.

Bristol slowly but surely started to get their game going and they managed to make their way into Albion’s 22 for the first time on nine minutes.

The visitors were awarded a penalty after James Owen was deemed to have tripped Tom Arscott.

They then made the most of it by opting for touch and, having won the line-out, they drove their way over the whitewash with flanker James Phillips the man to touch down on 12 minutes.

However, Jarvis missed an easy conversion, so Bristol only led 5-0.

The visitors came close to doubling their try tally five minutes later when Arscott kicked upfield and gave chase.

He looked certain to reach the ball first and touch down for his side’s second try, but Albion scrum-half Ruairi Cushion did brilliantly to beat Arscott to the ball and deny the ex-Plymouth winger.

Despite trailing, the hosts were giving as good as they were getting and they had a chance to reduce the deficit on 23 minutes.

Albion turned over Bristol and a superb kick upfield by Cushion resulted in Luke Arscott being penalised for holding onto the ball.

Unfortunately for Plymouth, Hallett’s penalty kick drifted narrowly left of the posts and the gap remained five points.

Seven minutes later, Albion’s fly-half had an opportunity to make amends when Bristol were penalised for handling on the floor.

But, for a third time, Hallett missed his kick and the hosts, despite dominating possession and territory, remained five points adrift.

Still, though, it was the hosts who continued to dominate and they finally narrowed the deficit in the last minute of regulation time.

Bristol try-scorer Phillips was yellow carded for throwing a punch and Hallett sent the resulting penalty through the centre of the posts for 5-3.

Yet, Albion’s joy was short-lived as despite being a man down, the visitors went up the other end of the field and scored their second try less than a minute later.

Scrum-half and captain Jason Spice touched down and with Jarvis adding the extras, Bristol now led 12-3.

Plymouth responded immediately with a real offensive push, but they were unable to add to their points-total and went in at the break nine points behind.

Bristol began the second half still with only 14 men but they began it the better and looked the more likely to score the next points.

The visitors dominated possession and territory for the opening six minutes, but Albion managed to stand firm defensively and then went in search of points of their own.

Their cause was helped in the 52nd minute when Bristol full-back Luke Arscott was yellow carded for a professional foul.

Two minutes later, Plymouth took full advantage when Alex Davies released Hallett and the Albion captain slid across the whitewash.

Hallett missed the conversion, but the hosts were back in the game, trailing just 12-8.

However, on 59 minutes, Bristol stretched their lead and made Albion’s task that little bit harder when hooker David Blaney was driven over for the visitors’ third try.

Jarvis added the extras to put Bristol 19-8 in front and the home side had lots to do.

Jarvis had an opportunity to kick more points two minutes later when the visitors were awarded a penalty on halfway.

But the fly-half saw his kick drop short of the posts and the gap remained 11 points.

Albion were doing all they could to claw back the deficit, but their challenge was effectively up on 70 minutes when after trying to break they dropped the ball and Plymouth old boy Luke Arscott picked up to run in from 40m to score Bristol’s fourth try of the afternoon to secure a bonus point.

Jarvis kicked the conversion for 26-8 to leave the hosts with a mountain to climb and that mountain become even steeper four minutes later when Bristol crossed the whitewash for a fifth time.

Phillips scored his second try and with Jarvis kicking the extras, the visitors were now 33-8 in front.

To their credit, Albion didn’t give up and they pushed Bristol all the way to the final whistle, however it wasn’t enough to prevent defeat.

Albion: Kieran Hallett (capt), Ben Mercer (Mark Lee 77), Keni Fisilau, Sione Tu’ipuluto, Liam Gibson, Alex Davies (Gary Kingdom 72), Ruairi Cushion, Martin Rice (David Morton 77), James Owen (Joe Clark 55), Ryan Hopkins (Danny Porte 63), Mike Lewis, Tyler Hotson (Tom Skelding 72), Sean-Michael Stephen, Rory Watts-Jones (Wayne Sprangle 63), Kyle Marriott.

Bristol: Luke Arscott, Tom Arscott, Jack Adams, Junior Fatialofa, Dan Norton, Adrian Jarvis, Jason Spice (capt), Mark Irish (Wayne Thompson 78), David Blaney, Wayne Thompson (Darren Crompton 60), Nathan Budgett, Royston Winters, James Phillips, James Merriman (Redford Pennycock 72), Dan Montagu. Reps (not used): Oliver Hayes, Darren Barry, Robert Shaw, Christopher Ashwin, Luke Eves.

Scorers: Albion: Try: Hallett. Pen: Hallett.

Bristol: Tries: Phillips (2), Spice, Blaney, L Arscott. Cons: Jarvis (4).

Cards: Albion: None. Bristol: Yellow: Phillips (39), Luke Arscott (52).

Referee: Terry Hall (RFU).

Attendance: 2,993.