Saturday 5 November 2016 00:44, UK
Mark Tainton was unable to deliver Bristol's first win of the season as they were beaten at Worcester in the Anglo-Welsh Cup.
The visitors went down 31-25 at Sixways in their first game since Tainton replaced Andy Robinson as acting head coach and have now gone 10 matches without a victory.
A 13-5 lead was well-earned, but the first of two Max Stelling tries trimmed Worcester's deficit just before the break and Bristol had Jack Wallace and Rob Hawkins yellow-carded early in the second half.
Josh Adams cashed in with his second of the night after Hawkins was sin-binned, and when Wallace's tip tackle reduced Bristol to 13 men, the home side opened up a 31-13 lead thanks to Stelling and Michael Doswett.
Wallace and Tom Varndell crossed to make it a nervy finish, not helped by a yellow card Matt Cox, but the Warriors held on.
Elsewhere, Leicester clung on for a 21-20 win at Bath in a game they almost let slip from a position of dominance.
First-half tries by Luke Hamilton and George Catchpole and 11 points from the boot of Freddie Burns put them in control at 21-8.
But Pat Cilliers' sin-binning gave Bath a lifeline they almost took thanks to late scores from Jeff Williams and Dan Bowden,
Sale beat Wasps 17-13 in the night's other game, notable for the rugby union debut of league convert Josh Charnley.
The former Wigan Warriors man was introduced late on with Sale 17-8 ahead and had little involvement.
