Full-time: Bristol 10 Gloucester 29

Bristol will head into 2009 bottom of the Guinness Premiership following derby defeat at the hands of Gloucester.

Tries from Olly Morgan, Mike Tindall (two) and Lesley Vainikolo gave Gloucester a bonus point, with Bristol’s only try coming from David Lemi.

Bristol Rugby were second best for much of the contest and had no answer to the neighbours’ clinical play in front of 11,845 fans at the Memorial Stadium.

Full-back Morgan’s classy, jinking run past five Bristol defenders came inside the opening four minutes and was converted by Olly Barkley to give Gloucester Rugby a 7-0 lead.

Barkley then missed a penalty as Bristol illegally thwarted a promising Gloucester move, before Ed Barnes kicked the hosts to within four points with a penalty.

Ryan Lamb took over kicking duties for Gloucester and soon kicked them into a 10-3 lead, which remained in tact until half-time after a series of missed kicks.

Bristol’s task was made even more difficult when skipper Shaun Perry was sin-binned shortly before the break for killing the ball.

But Lamb missed the resulting penalty and another – awarded after Lemi hit out at Alex Brown – as Gloucester failed to make the most of the extra man.

Bristol introduced Mark Regan at half-time – and he immediately got stuck into Olivier Azam, his arrival adding grit to the home side.

Bristol dominated the early stages of the second period but could not find a breakthrough, Barnes sending a penalty wide after a Gloucester player had handled at a ruck.

And Bristol’s failure to build on their early second-half pressure was exposed when Tindall went through for Gloucester’s second try with 11 minutes to play.

Luke Arscott’s powerful tackle on Luke Narraway denied Gloucester out wide, but they held onto possession and skipper Tindall soon sauntered through a gap to score under the posts. Lamb’s conversion stretched Gloucester’s lead to 14 points.

And that advantage soon became 19 points when Narraway burst into the Bristol 22, played the ball wide, got it back and sent Vainikolo in.

Bristol’s reply was instant but far too late to make an impact on the outcome, Lemi beating Tindall on the outside to score his fifth Premiership try of the season.

There was still time for Gloucester to claim a bonus point, Tindall going over after Dave Lewis’ quick tap penalty under the sticks in the final play of the game.

Bristol Rugby: L Arscott; L Robinson, Neil Brew, L Eves (Nathan Brew 65), D Lemi; E Barnes (A Jarvis 65), S Perry (capt); D Crompton, S Linklater (M Regan 41), J Hobson (M Irish 51), M Sambucetti (D Attwood 64), R Sidoli, N Budgett (J Phillips 64), A To’oala, D Ward-Smith. Rep not used: G Beveridge.

Scorers: Try – Lemi. Con – Jarvis. Pen – Barnes.

Sin-binned: Perry (39-48, killing the ball).

Gloucester Rugby: O Morgan; M Watkins, M Tindall (capt), O Barkley, L Vainikolo; R Lamb, R Lawson (D Lewis 51); N Wood (A Dickinson 78), O Azam (A Titterrell 80), C Nieto, W James (A Eustace 74), A Brown, A Strokosch, A Satala, L Narraway. Reps not used: M Bortolami, W Walker, M Foster.

Scorers: Tries – Morgan, Tindall (2), Vainikolo. Cons – Barkley, Lamb (2). Pen – Lamb.

Referee: D Rose. Att: 11,845.