Wednesday 25 May 2016 19:40, UK
Dewi Morris believes Bristol are a changed team and are ready to make the step up to Premiership rugby ahead of Wednesday's Championship final second-leg, live on Sky Sports 1 HD from 7.30pm.
This year, Bristol have decided to turn up in the Championship play-offs and they are my favourites to win and gain promotion. Their stadium is obviously partially built, but they have still sold 16,000 tickets so it's an absolute sell-out.
They have a 15-point buffer going into the game which is a good advantage to have for the first time in their history. They have been in the wilderness of the Championship for seven years but they are just eighty minutes away from the promised land which is the Premiership, and I can't see Doncaster doing too much to stop them.
If Bristol are to do it, they deserve it. Their forwards coach, Mark Bakewell, has added a little bit of steel to the pack which has eliminated silly errors from their game. They dispatched Bedford easily in the semis and did a good job on Doncaster in the first leg with 59 per cent possession and 65 per cent territory, which suggests to me that they are very structured, very pragmatic, very concentrated on the job in hand and have been that way since the start of the play-offs.
Despite Doncaster being the underdog, I would like to think they have a chance. They will be proud and will fight, having beaten Bristol in November 27-39, so they are used to winning at the Ashton Gate Stadium.
But this is a different Bristol side with a different psyche and more commitment than the one Doncaster played seven months ago. They know that they have underachieved over the years but this could be the last piece of the jigsaw to get into the Premiership which is when the really hard work starts. Everyone in Bristol can celebrate if they are promoted, and look forward to playing in the elite league.
I'm looking forward to the encounter. It should be a good atmosphere and I'm expecting Bristol to put on a good performance. It will be a hearty display from Doncaster but I think Bristol, if they are to go up, will want to go out with a bang in front of their own supporters.
Over the past few years Bristol have struggled on the big stage losing to London Welsh in 2014 and to Worcester in 2015, but I really don't see it happening to them this time.
They are a more relaxed group. I think what has happened is that they are focussing on the job in hand rather than development, which they can do once they are in the Premiership. They have developed a style of hard-nosed, pragmatic rugby and everyone has bought into that.
It is not too flashy but it is very effective and very powerful while they are also the richest in the Championship with a squad of 50 players which they have stretched to the maximum because of the high amount of injuries.
There are no mixed messages, they are all reading off the same script and it looks like they are going to do it.
