The Cubs were denied a derby victory by a last-gasp Gloucester try, as they had to settle for a 33-33 draw in a pulsating Academy U18 League clash at Shaftesbury Park.
A brace of tries from captain, Kieran Hill, as well as scores for Evan Morris, Jeke Bulanauca and Bruno Lamb gave Bristol a 33-28 lead going into the dying embers of the game, but that late Gloucester try meant that the sides could not be split.
The visitors started well, earning a 14-0 lead after just over a quarter of an hour of rugby had been played.
But the Cubs fought back, inside centre, Lamb, carried the ball deep into the Gloucester 22 where his side won a penalty which was kicked to the corner. Hill threw into the lineout and finished off the driving maul to close the gap to 14-7.
10 minutes later, Bristol evened the score at 14-14; Ollie Harris raced from inside his own 22 to the halfway line before passing the ball to Morris who crossed the paint under the posts.
In the final play of the first half, the Cubs took the lead for the first time in the game.
Harris made another impressive run to get his team deep into his opposition’s red zone, where after several phases close to the Gloucester line Hill carried the ball over for his second try of the afternoon.
The visitors were accurate for large spells of the second half, regaining the lead which they had had in the first period, scoring twice to make the score 28-21 with just over 10 minutes to play.
However, late in the game the Cubs were relentless, scoring two stunning tries to give themselves a five-point lead with only a short amount of time left to play.
The first try was scored by Bulanauca who received the ball from Caspar Reeves and dove over in the corner after a pin-point cross field kick by Finlay Kandavanam-Lovell found the replacement winger on the right flank.
The second try was scored by Lamb but created by Osian Williams; the second rower threw a speculative offload to create the space for the centre to score out on the left wing with just over a minute to play.
After successfully kicking his first four conversions, Lamb watched his fifth go agonisingly wide, giving Bristol a five-point lead going into the final seconds of the game.
Gloucester drove a maul to within a metre of the Cubs line and after a couple of phases had scored the equalising try in the left corner.
Replacement fly half, Henry Parsons, stepped up to take the match winning conversion, but to the Cubs delight it smashed off the post and came back to him, finalising the score at 33-33.
Bristol Bears U17 17-46 Gloucester Rugby U17
Bristol Bears U17s were defeated 46-17 by Gloucester U17s at Shaftesbury Park on Saturday.
Despite tries for Jardel Furness, Ned Hill and Jacob Malka, Bristol struggled to wrestle for the control of the game in large spells of the match yet showed glimpses of quality.
The Cubs got off to a fast start, encapsulated by a fantastic Michael Whittaker line break to exit from his 22 after five minutes.
Shortly after, Malka made a darting run through the visitor’s defence to get the Under 17’s into the Gloucester red zone where Alfie Clark did the rest; the inside centre put a pinpoint kick into the path of Furness to give Bristol an early lead.
Gloucester replied in the 13th and 21st minutes with two converted scores of their own to make the score 14-5.
The Cubs returned instantly, bagging a try quickly after their opponents second. Krystof Wood caught the restart for Gloucester but had the ball ripped away from him by Malka, who once again carried deep into the 22.
Once there, the ball was passed wide to Hill who showed his strength to bundle over and close the points deficit to four.
The visitors scored another brace of tries on the stroke of half time to extend their lead to 24-10 at the interval.
Gloucester started the second half in the same form as they finished the first as Kai Wilkinson crossed the line in the 39th minute.
Despite conceding three consecutive tries, the Cubs remained resilient and fought back with a Sam Morris run down the right wing earning Bristol a lineout five metres out from the Gloucester line.
Malka threw in to the lineout and retrieved it from the back of the driving maul to dive over with Lewis Popple kicking the conversion to make the score 29-17.
But Gloucester replied quickly to reinstate their 17 point advantage, before scoring another couple in the 63rd and 66th minutes to make the score 46-17 as it remained until the end of the game.
