Luke Arscott scored his first try of the season in the win against the Pirates

Bristol won convincingly at West Country rivals Cornish Pirates to move up to third in the Championship.

In wet and windy conditions at Camborne Bristol's forwards began to apply the pressure on the Pirates pack and the scores were level at 6-6 at the break.

With the wind behind them in the second half, Bristol outscored their opponents four tries to one to win by 22 points.

"I'm very pleased. The forwards had to do a job and they did it very well," coach Paul Hull told BBC Radio Bristol.

"You've got to wear teams down. You can't expect to go in and win the game in the first 20 minutes.

"The foundations were laid in the first-half and they put the icing on the cake in the second," he added.

The Pirates opened the scoring after just four minutes with drop goal from their Tongan winger Aisea Havilli.

Bristol drew level with a penalty from fly-half Adrian Jarvis and a further penalty from each side left the score 6-6 at half-time.

In the second-half, Bristol turned their possession into points, scoring three tries in 13 minutes to open up a 28-6 lead.

Full-back Luke Arscott touched down first, followed by flying winger Dan Norton and flanker Redford Pennycook.

Bristol's pack got further reward for their dominance in the scrum as they were awarded a penalty try in the 72nd minute.

The Pirates scored a consolation try on 80 minutes when winger Rhodri McAtee went over in the corner but by that time the game was well and truly over.

Bristol are now level on points with second-placed Nottingham, three points behind league-leaders Exeter. Their next game is at home to Moseley on Friday.

"The guys will have a couple of days off and come back in to prepare for short turnaround," said Hull.

"But we lost our last home fixture so we'll be up for the fight."

Cornish Pirates: W Davies, A Havilli, N Jackson, M Ireland, R Cook, R Jones, B Jones, A Paver (capt), D Ward, R Brits, L Collins, M Evans, S Betty, T Holmes, L McGlone. Replacements: C Rimmer, P Andrew, R Elloway, A Shaw, R McAtee, S Winn, J Moore

Bristol: L Arscott, L Robinson, J Adams, Junior Fatialofa, D Norton, A Jarvis, J Spice (c); A Clarke, D Blaney, D Crompton, J Phillips, R Winters, I Grieve, R Pennycook, D Montagu Replacements : R Johnson, W Thompson, M Sambucetti, J Merriman, S Alford, L Eves, T Arscott

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