John Brain was a proud man after watching Bristol's youngsters deliver an 18-11 British & Irish Cup win at Neath last night.

Bristol, who fielded seven debutants throughout the evening, thoroughly deserved their Pool B victory after controlling the game against their Principality Premiership opponents.

Iain Grieve and Sam Alford scored the tries at the Gnoll, while Chris Ashwin kicked eight points to get Bristol's cup campaign off to a victorious start.

Brain and head coach Paul Hull made it clear that the Championship is their only priority this season when they made 12 personnel changes to the side that had beaten Nottingham five days earlier.

But their mix-and-match team – containing 11 players aged between 18 and 23, with a further three teenagers on the bench – produced the goods with a slick performance in Wales.

"I'm proud – that was a really good performance," said Brain.

"Neath were billing this as the biggest game of their season, but we've come down here with a group of inexperienced players and done the business, so we're very happy.

"We controlled the first half, and although we lost a bit of composure at the start of the second half and the referee made some strange decisions, we got control again and our subs did a very good job.

"All the guys we put on did very well and made a good impact –and we got control, got field position and forced a try. We can take a lot of confidence from this."

Bristol RFC led 10-3 after bossing the first half, but found themselves 11-10 down shortly after half-time, only to fight back to claim a deserved win.

"The character we showed was very good," said Brain. "All through it, we were confident that we were the better team. It was a very pleasing performance.

"Ross Johnston, Mako Vunipola and Ben Glynn all came on and made a big impact, so we had good impetus through those guys and kept the ball well, which was key.

"We're very happy to have won and to have only conceded one try."

Bristol sent former Hawke's Bay man Sam Giddens on to make his debut in the 52nd minute – and the inside centre produced a hugely encouraging cameo.

The 25-year-old is now in line to make his first Bristol start at Munster A in the same competition on Friday.

"He looked quality when he came on," said Brain.

"He's a good player – and good players can settle anywhere.

"We were pleased with what we saw from him."