Munster A 18 Bristol Rugby 6

Bristol's youngsters were unable to back up their opening weekend heroics as they tasted British & Irish Cup defeat against Munster at Nenagh.

Having triumphed 18-11 at Neath in their opening Pool B match, the acid test for Bristol's rising stars was always going to come in the hotbed of Irish rugby.

The Championship promotion hopefuls fielded five teenagers – and another five players aged between 20 and 23 – in their starting line-up.

But where they had been allowed to set the tempo at the Gnoll a week earlier, they found the going considerably more difficult in County Tipperary.

Bristol's pack met a disciplined and well-drilled Munster unit – and the visitors at times found themselves living off scraps as they went in search of a breakthrough. Munster limited Bristol to two Chris Ashwin penalties, while the home side scored tries through Dave Kilcoyne, Danny Barnes and Ronan O'Mahony.

Declan Cusack, with a penalty, completed the scoring for the hosts.

Bristol trailed 8-3 following a low-key opening 40 minutes at New Ormond Park.

The visitors made life difficult for themselves by losing two early line-outs in good positions – and soon fell behind to a Cusack penalty.

The fly-half kicked Munster in front on eight minutes after Bristol had been penalised for not releasing as they attempted to run the ball out of trouble.

Bristol created an opening when prop Mako Vunipola hacked downfield after finding a loose ball at his feet and Ashwin gave chase. But the fly-half was beaten to the ball by Simon Zebo after the Munster winger showed great pace.

Bristol's huff and puff was rewarded on 25 minutes when Ashwin kicked them level from a penalty after a Munster player was deemed to have entered a ruck from the side.

But a Bristol knock-on deep inside their own territory allowed Munster a scrum, from which they built the forward platform that led to the opening try.

The home side went close on a couple of occasions – first through driving a line-out and then from a close-range scrum – before prop Kilcoyne scored out wide.

A five-metre scrum was the source, before quick hands from scrum-half Conor Murray and No 8 James Coughlan sent Kilcoyne over in the corner. Cusack failed the conversion attempt.

Bristol, for the second time in the match, then turned down an opportunity to narrow the hosts' lead, Ashwin went for touch instead of the posts – but kicked the ball dead.

Munster made a flying start to the second half, electing to follow Bristol's lead by kicking a penalty to touch – but enjoying much greater success than the visitors by producing a try from the resulting line-out.

Danny Riordan found touch, Dave Foley snared possession, and after a few close shaves, winger Barnes tunnelled a route to the line.

Bristol were 13-3 down – but they continued to plug away and narrowed the Munster lead to seven points when Ashwin sensibly went for the posts and nailed his second penalty of the evening. But that was to be the visitors' final score of the game, as they spent much of the remainder of the match defending their own line.

It looked as though they were going to deny Munster a third try – until the 77th minute, when Ashwin knocked on, Murray fed Riordan and he full-back found replacement O'Mahony with a perfect cross-kick to the left wing.

The winger's score sealed a deserved victory for Munster and denied Bristol a losing bonus point on their travels.

Munster A: D Riordan (P Rowley 79); D Barnes, T Gleeson, S Deasy, S Zebo (R O'Mahony 65); D Cusack (A Burke 53), C Murray; D Kilcoyne (P O'Regan 67), M Sherry (S Henry 77), S Archer, I Nagle, D Foley, B Holland (N Williams 60), T O'Donnell (P O'Mahony 77), J Coughlan.

Bristol Rugby: J Tovey (J Fatialofa 67); L Robinson, L Eves (J Gadd 75), S Giddens, G Watkins; C Ashwin, S Alford (R Shaw 67); M Irish (A Bellamy 77), R Johnston (O Hayes, 75), M Vunipola (W Thompson 63), B Glynn, J Brown (M Mama 63), N Budgett (capt), J Merriman, D Barry.

Munster – Tries: Kilcoyne, Barnes, R O'Mahony. Pen: Cusack.

Bristol – Pens: Ashwin (2).