Rotherham reached the quarter-finals of the Powergen Cup for the first time in their history with an upset victory over Premiership strugglers Bristol.

The First Division side scored three tries to one and survived an early sin-binning as they stunned the Shoguns in front of their lowest crowd of the season.

Bristol made nine changes to the team that beat Swansea in the Heineken Cup the previous week and left out Argentine half-backs Agustin Pichot and Felipe Contepomi.

The hosts took an early lead through a Shane Drahm penalty but failed to capitalise when Rotherham centre Mike Umaga was yellow carded for a dangerous tackle on Ben Sturnham.

Match facts

Bristol 19 Try: Higgins Con: Drahm Pens: Drahm (4) Rotherham 24 Tries: Schmid, Oliver, Wood Cons: Pez (3) Pen: Pez

Drahm added another penalty in Umaga's absence, but on his return Rotherham's threat increased and they were rewarded with the first try of the game.

From a scrum 20 metres out, scrum-half Jacob Rauluni's dummy run opened up a gap for player-coach Mike Schmid to pick up from the base and race to the posts.

Ramiro Pez converted and was on the mark again when Rotherham added a second try just after the half-hour.

The guys wanted to show the sceptics that we are for real Rotherham player-coach Mike Schmid

Rauluni found Umaga from a five-metre scrum and then fellow centre Matthew Oliver strolled through to the line.

Rotherham turned round 14-6 in front and responded to Drahm's early penalty after the break with their third try.

This time, wing Michael Wood charged down a clearance kick by Drahm as Bristol waited for an offside whistle that never came.

Pez converted and then exchanged penalties with Drahm as Rotherham's defence continued to frustrate their Premiership rivals.

We fielded the best available side but that certainly isn't an excuse Bristol coach Peter Thorburn

But Bristol replacement centre Andrew Higgins squeezed in at the corner and Drahm converted from out wide to put the hosts within striking distance with less than 10 minutes remaining.

Brendon Daniel and Lee Best both came close to scoring tries for Bristol in the closing stages.

But a solid Rotherham defence held out, and the match finished with Higgins yellow-carded deep in added time for excessive use of the boot at a ruck.

Bristol: Best, Rees, Shaw, Carrington, Daniel, Drahm, Richards, Sheridan, Nelson, White, S. Morgan, Sturnham, C. Morgan, Oakley, Beattie.
Replacements: E. Bergamaschi, Rowland, Styles, Hayward, Williams, Higgins, Hodgson.

Rotherham: Benson, Dixon, Oliver, Umaga, Wood, Pez, Raulini, Lloyd, Johnson, Noon, Cook, Kenworthy, Greeff, Spence, Schmid.
Replacements: Towes, Bunting, Tooala, Giacheri, Remnant, Harrison, Craig.

Referee: Tony Spreadbury (England)