Report: London Welsh 22-36 Bristol Rugby

The visitors scored four times as Charlie Amesbury, Tom Varndell, Adrian Jarvis and Jack Tovey went over in front of the Sky Sports cameras.

Bristol made a fine start, taking a 0-3 lead inside the opening sixty seconds as Gavin Henson struck a simple penalty goal in front of the sticks.

London Welsh responded almost immediately when Martyn Thomas capitalized on a turnover to collect a crossfield kick and touch down under the posts for a converted try.

Bristol controlled the lion’s share of possession and regained the advantage when Charlie Amesbury rounded off a well-worked attack to fly over the whitewash.

And the visitors stretched their lead to 7-15 moments later as Tom Varndell crossed for his first score in Bristol colours, latching onto Jack Wallace’s offload to race in.

Joe Carlisle’s penalty goal kept Welsh in touch, but the fly-half missed another attempt at the posts before the interval, while Chris Elder also came close.

Bristol drew first blood in a fiercely contested second half as replacement Adrian Jarvis ghosted through the gap from close range following a relentless spell of attacking pressure.

Andy Robinson lost Hall, Mosses and Wallace to injury in a forty minutes that saw Nick Koster moved into the centre. But, despite a makeshift backline, Olly Robinson saw a try ruled out, before Gavin Henson kicked a penalty goal to move the score to 10-25.

Ben Cooper’s close-range score kept London Welsh in touch with ten minutes remaining on the clock, but Henson’s third penalty gave Bristol valuable breathing space.

Jack Tovey’s yellow card ensured a nervy finale and Nic Reynolds flew over in the corner soon after to reduce the deficit to six points.

With time running out, Jarvis converted a superb angled penalty for fourteen-man Bristol to settle nerves and the visitors closed out the game for a valuable away day win.