Bristol 33 Leeds Carnegie 19: Leaders Bristol hold no fear for Edwards despite away defeat

Both Leeds and Bristol will be in the play-offs come the end of the season and should they avoid each other in the pool stage, they will relish another opportunity to have a crack at each other in the knockout stages.

The game was constantly punctuated by niggling skirmishes which resulted in the game failing to live up to its billing.

Edwards said: “We have pushed the top team in the table all the way and that gives us confidence. We did not play to our usual standards, but we were very close to getting something from the game. We know that coming back here in the play-offs would not frighten us and hopefully we will get the chance.”

The home side dominated the first half in terms of possession, but they rarely troubled the Leeds defence with any meaningful attack as they preferred to keep the ball tight in the forwards before fly-half Tristan Roberts kicked to the corners.

The tactic worked in the first half as the visitors made heavy weather of getting away from their own line and constantly gave away penalties.

Roberts kicked Bristol into a 9-0 lead inside the first 15 minutes as Leeds conceded a string of penalties near their line. Roberts eventually missed an effort after 21 minutes which seemed to give Leeds a lift. They finally got off the mark thanks to a penalty from Tommy Bell after a good break by Tom Denton. However, that score was cancelled out by Roberts with his fourth penalty shortly before half-time.

There was still time for late drama as Bristol centre Fautua Otto was sin-binned as the teams came off for the break after he punched Michael Stephenson following the half-time whistle. That meant the second half unusually kicked off with a penalty for Leeds on halfway, which Bell narrowly missed.

He made amends soon afterwards with two quickfire penalties but then Leeds let the game slip. Roberts and Bell traded two penalties apiece before former Leeds man Jon Goodridge finished off good work by back row Dan Montague to score. Roberts missed the conversion but Bristol led 26-12.

Both teams were reduced to 14 men when Jacob Rowan and then Mark Irish were sin-binned for persistent infringements that littered the match.

With 10 minutes to go, Leeds gave themselves a lifeline when Joe Barker latched onto a loose kick by Roberts to race through untouched from 40 metres out, Bell adding the conversion.

Leeds pressed hard in the closing stages as they looked for an equalising score, but a wide pass from replacement Scott Barrow was plucked out of the air by Otto who galloped half the length of the field to score, denying Leeds a losing bonus.

Bristol: Goodridge, Tovey, Otto, Helu, Watkins, Roberts, Tipuna, Irish, Harris-Wright (Mama, 65), Hobson (Thompson, 64), Sambucetti (Barry, 65), Winters, Grieve, Merriman (Crompton, 66), Montagu.

Leeds Carnegie: Bell, Stephenson, Thornley, Barker (Barrow, 70), Lucock, Ford, Hampson (Shaw, 59), MacDonald (Lockwood, 61), Titterrell (Freer, 63), Palma-Newport, Hemingway (Beck, 77), Denton, Burrows, Walker (Paul, 45), Rowan.

Referee: M Carly (RFU).