Below par Bristol Rugby beat Birmingham & Solihull

Birmingham & Solihull 36 Bristol 40

Bristol continued their winning start to life in the Championship – but their performance at Sharmans Cross Road will have thrown up plenty of concerns for head coach Paul Hull.

Debutant Jack Adams crossed twice as Bristol scored six tries, with fellow summer signings Dan Montagu, Jason Spice and Dan Norton also getting on the scoresheet. They were also awarded a penalty try.

Fly-half Adrian Jarvis had a largely disappointing day with the boot, kicking two penalties and one conversion, with replacement Mark Davies adding a late conversion for his first Bristol points.

And many aspects of Bristol’s performance were alarmingly poor as they repeatedly conceded soft ball against hard-working opponents.

Bristol-born Mark Woodrow scored 21 of the Bees’ points as last season’s National League Two champions pushed Bristol all the way.

Jarvis gave Bristol an early lead, before Woodrow levelled for the hosts. Montagu went over following a five-metre scrum – and Bristol’s set-piece dominance then brought them a penalty try, which Jarvis converted for a 15-3 lead.

Woodrow and Jarvis exchanged penalties, before Bees skipper Rob Connolly – a flanker playing out of position in the centre- went over for the home side’s first try.

Woodrow’s conversion made it 18-13, before the impressive Adams went over for his first Bristol try. Woodrow had the final say of the first half, however, landing an injury-time penalty to see his side back to within seven points at the break.

Bristol’s poor ball retention saw Reece Spee race from within his own half to score shortly after the restart, with Woodrow’s conversion drawing the scores level at 23-23.

Spice battled his way over to restore Bristol’s lead, but the Bees stayed in touch thanks to another Woodrow penalty after Roy Winters was sin-binned for killing the ball.

Adams looked to have put daylight between the sides with his second try but Woodrow kept nipping away at Bristol’s heels and his penalty saw his side close the deficit to four points at 33-29.

Winger Norton followed up his opening-day try against London Welsh when he went over on 74 minutes, with replacement Davies converting, but a late defensive horror show from Lee Robinson allowed Ronnie McLean to grab a third try for the home side.