We'll be off the bottom soon, vows Bristol boss Hill

Richard Hill believes Bristol Rugby will not be propping up the Guinness Premiership for long after his side snatched a priceless draw at Worcester.

They could climb away from the drop zone on Saturday if their revival continues in the derby with Gloucester Rugby at the Memorial Stadium. Dean Ryan's side were stunned by a rampant London Irish outfit, who went top with a 42-12 victory.

Bristol, who were very aggressive in defence, perhaps deserved more from their trip to Worcester Warriors but needed Ed Barnes to land a penalty with the last kick of the match to claim two points.

They had led twice thanks to fine tries from Dan Ward-Smith and Lee Robinson, but had to settle for a draw, which put them only a point behind second-from-bottom Newcastle Falcons.

And Bristol head coach Hill believes – with Newcastle losing 20-3 at Leicester on Saturday – Bristol are making up ground all the time.

He said: "This draw gives us two points on Newcastle – they got nothing when they came down here.

"All the time we are beginning to claw our way back inch by inch. We are only now one point behind them. Christmas will be a lot more enjoyable.

"Worcester will probably feel that they've lost a couple of points but we think we've gained at least one point. So that keeps Worcester down in the mix with us.

"The players were pumped up in the huddle afterwards. They are determined to get out of this – it will be nice at one stage to look at the table and not see Bristol 12th."

Bristol were forced into a late change after flanker Redford Pennycook – himself in the team after Joe El-Abd (bicep) had been ruled out – failed a mental and reaction test after being knocked out at Northampton a fortnight ago.

Alfie To'oala went from blindside to the open, Nathan Budgett wore the No 6 shirt but the move helped the Samoan get closer to the action so he could deliver several bone-crunching tackles.

The rest of the pack followed To'oala's lead with some abrasive and hard tackling as they made the Worcester pack fight for every inch of ground.

The aggression spilled over at times with prop Jason Hobson guilty of squaring up to the Warriors' forwards far too often.

If the forwards continue to show no mercy to opposition packs and the midfield remain rock solid in defence then it won't be long until Bristol Rugby are climbing away from the drop zone.

Bristol took advantage of centre Dale Rasmussen's spell in the sin-bin – the centre given his marching orders for tugging back Robinson without the ball – when Ward-Smith crossed on 28 minutes.

Robinson made the initial break and with Bristol players lining up to go over, the No 8 spotted a gap in midfield and shrugged off one tackler to score. Barnes converted.

Eoghan Hickey, on loan at Worcester from London Irish, replied with a penalty but Barnes cancelled that out with three points of his own on 38 minutes.

The Bristol defence, which has leaked tries far too easily this term, held firm before the break and Hickey let the visitors off the hook when he missed a penalty.

Hill's side were lucky not to have a player sin-binned when Worcester threatened, but after the break referee Wayne Barnes showed no sympathy to a confused Robinson when he brandished the yellow card for a second time.

The winger wildly flew out of the defensive line and, according to the touch judge, had barged into a Worcester player.

It was all hands to the pump for Bristol as Worcester enjoyed a prolonged campaign on the visitors' line. Prop Tevita Taumoepeau was held up over the line and, after a series of scrums had collapsed, Barnes went under the sticks to give the home side a penalty try on 49 minutes. Hickey added the extras.

Two minutes later, Worcester were in front after Hickey was on target with a penalty. But, on 64 minutes, Robinson turned from villain to hero.

He received the ball in space, sped past Chris Pennell and had enough pace to get to the line ahead of Chris Latham. Barnes added the extras.

Bristol's aggressive front five forwards started to tire and pick up injuries with hooker Mark Regan and lock Mariano Sambucetti forced off as the lead lasted only 10 minutes.

Replacement lock Dave Attwood's wild tap down at the line-out conceded possession and, after spreading the play from one wing to the other, Bristol ran out of defenders as Latham scored a well-worked try. Hickey converted.

The visitors could have settled for the losing bonus point, but they showed great resilience and as wing David Lemi went through he was high tackled. With the countdown clock at zero, Barnes slotted the penalty.