Bristol live to drop another day. In achieving their first bonus-point victory and comfortably their highest score of the Premiership season they not only postponed their day of reckoning but dragged Worcester into the relegation mire.
If the abject manner of the Warriors' capitulation suggested there was life in the relegation struggle yet, Bristol have very probably left it too late. They are nine points adrift at the bottom having played a game more than Worcester and the first of their three remaining games is at title contenders London Irish on Saturday. The Madejski Stadium is the ground on which the West Country club last said farewell to the Premiership, in 2003.
Here, despite their plight, Bristol played without inhibition. Some of their rugby was as innovative as any seen in the Premiership this season. The fear which seemed to wrap them like a shroud earlier in the campaign was replaced initially by ambition and then by a belief that allowed them to ride out a rally by Worcester either side of the interval. The wing Lee Robinson, who used to personify the robotic nature of Bristol's game, revelled in his liberation, appearing all over the pitch and causing havoc with his pace and power.
Bristol had been threatening to win since being thrashed at home by Newcastle last month in what was then billed as a relegation decider. They responded to that defeat by promoting Paul Hull to head coach a few months ahead of schedule and the former England full-back has injected rhythm and movement into a side that had previously been one-dimensional. Harlequins, Leicester and Wasps have all escaped from what had been expected to be far from close encounters with the narrowest of victories as Bristol's old dogs showed new flicks.
Their first try, on 10 minutes, summed up the difference. Bristol moved the ball left and right, keeping it in hand, before Tom Arscott cut inside with such an exaggerated step that two defenders, Willie Walker and Matt Mullan, were flat on their backs when the full-back touched down. Arscott's long pass then sent Junior Fatialofa over and within 30 minutes the home side, who had only scored 22 tries in their previous 18 Premiership matches, were three tries and 17 points to the good. The elusive David Lemi was held up just short of the line but Mariano Sambucetti forced his way over.
Worcester were prodded out of their reverie to score 15 points either side of half-time, but throughout they looked most like the side facing relegation and an uncertain future. They were missing their A-list imports, including the former Wallaby full-back Chris Latham, but they were alarmingly fallible under pressure and the wretchedness of their own game contributed in part to their downfall. They will finish the season as the only side in the Premiership that did not gain at least one victory over Bristol.
The wing Miles Benjamin, who a year ago looked an England prospect, had a hapless first half, dropping three high kicks, kicking the ball out on the full when free and in space and having a try disallowed for crossing. Walker assumed the role of fall-guy after the break and his errors proved more costly. His knock-on in his own 22 gave Bristol the position from which they worked Robinson over for their bonus-point try and when, six minutes later, he kicked the ball directly into touch just outside his 22, the home side took the line-out quickly and their scrum-half, Haydn Thomas, a first-half replacement for Shaun Perry, who took a bang to the head, scurried away to secure a victory that Robinson emphasised with his second try at the very end.
Walker ended up moving from full-back to outside-half, and if anything has summed up Worcester's failure to build on their stadium development and five years in the Premiership it has been a lack of top-drawer half-backs. The Warriors go to Harlequins on Wednesday to play their game in hand, before entertaining Saracens. Hull is only too aware that this result will almost certainly amount merely to a stay of execution for Bristol, but he is laying a foundation for next season.
"We hope to announce some more signings soon," he said. Playing the way they are now, with financial uncertainty lifted, Bristol are no longer a draw only for those of pensionable age.
Bristol T Arscott; Robinson, N Brew (Eves, 59), Fatialofa (L Arscott, 71), Lemi; Barnes, Perry (Thomas, 21); Irish, Linklater, Crompton (Thompson, 76), Sambucetti (Winters, 59), Sidoli, Pennycook (To'oala, 69), El Abd (capt), Ward-Smith.
Tries Robinson 2, T Arscott, Fatialofa, Sambucetti, Thomas. Cons Barnes 2. Drop-goal T Arscott.
Worcester Walker; Garvey, Grove (Luscombe, 69), Rasmussen, Benjamin; Jones (Crichton, 58), R Powell (Arr, 68); Mullan (Black, 65), Fortey (Lutui, h-t), Morris, Rawlinson, Bowley (Gillies, 66), Wood (Cox, 75), Sanderson (capt), Horstmann.
Tries Rasmussen, Horstmann. Con Walker. Pens Walker 2.
Referee W Barnes (London). Attendance 5,403.
