Bristol kicked off and Adrian Jarvis was able to kick down to touch following an early penalty award.  Nottingham stole the lineout but failed to make much ground from the clearance kick.  Lee Robinson broke into midfield and fed Luke Eves who made it down to the five metre line before Luke Arscott knocked on.  Nottingham were driven back over the line by excellent forward play from the Bristol pack to hand Bristol an good attacking opportunity.  Jarvis popped the ball up to Sam Giddens who strolled through a gaping hole in the home defence to score under the posts.  Jarvis converted for an early 0 - 7 lead.

Nottingham tried to take on the Bristol defence and switched play around but struggled even to get out of their own half.  Kicking simply handed the ball back to Bristol.  The sole chance for Nottingham came from a kickable penalty that Tonks hit well wide.  Bristol chose to kick penalties to touch and a good kick from Jarvis took play down to the five metre line.  Bristol, as so often this season, went for the catch and drive move to which Nottingham's only answer was to give away a penalty.  Jarvis made no mistake and it was 0 - 10.  Nottingham now managed to exert some sustained pressure and fashioned a chance for their own driving maul.  They went close but failed to score.  From the Bristol scrum though,  Jason Spice popped the ball straight into the hands of his opposite number who had simply to touch the ball down for the easiest of near comedic tries.  The conversion was undemanding and it was 7 - 10.

Bristol were stung after having so much of the early play and Eves and Redford Pennycook were prominent as the ball was worked close to the try line.  Nottingham gave away a penalty and the number 5 saw yellow, Bristol surprisingly went for the scrum rather than take the points on offer.  Poor execution saw the ball knocked on by Giddens and Bristol had initially failed to make the one man advantage count.  A bout of aerial ping pong was brought to a merciful close when Robinson decide to run the ball back.  Bristol went through a few phases before Nottingham were again penalised.  Although the penalty was again kickable Jarvis went for touch.  The maul formed up but was disappointing.  The ball went out along the line, accumulating errors on its way, before ending up in Nottingham hands and being cleared upfield.  Bristol eventually strung together a fluid move with forwards and backs interlinking and Nottingham were forced into conceding another penalty.  The kick was once more sent to touch, although it was certainly kickable.  This time it looked as if Bristol had driven over but the referee was poorly positioned and had to give the five metre scrum.  Spice's pass from the scrum went loose as the half ended.  Would Bristol rue the failure to kick nine points?

The second half commenced with another dispiriting kicking duel.  Larscott broke the impasse by attempting to run and then knocking on.  Nottingham took advantage of the error to take on the Bristol defence, but a forward pass halted the momentum.  Another error gave Bristol a lineout down on the 22.  Tom Arscott tried to weave his way through and Jarvis made a nice break.  The scrum went to Bristol six or seven metres out and James Phillips picked up at the back to crash over the line for a converted try and 7 - 17.

Disjointed play saw Nottingham back into the Bristol half and their forwards took the ball on.  The ball went out along the line and a tremendous Eves tackle went in.  However the referee was playing advantage and The easy penalty went over to narrow the gap to 10 - 17.  Bristol endeavoured to hit back but failed to make any real progress despite Giddens showing good skills.  However, Nottingham saw another player visit the sin-bin.  The only result was some more aimless kicking from both teams.  It was Larscott who again tried something different and this time his move came off.  He chipped the defence and gathered the ball before passing to Eves.  He, in turn, released Robinson on a powerful run.  Robinson found Pennycook who loped over for an unconverted try a 10 - 22 scoreline.

Nottingham now held on to the ball and forced Bristol onto the defensive.  They were rewarded with a penalty in front of the posts on the 22.  Tonks was on target for 13 - 22.  Neither side was able to make any breakthrough or impose themselves on the opposition.  Fierce tackling from Bristol looked to have set up a counter attack but a knock-on negated all the hard work.  A penalty then allowed Nottingham right back into the game when Tonks' exceptional kick went over for a score of 16 - 22 and time running out.   Bristol tried to hold on to possession but Tarscott was forced into touch and then Bristol knocked on at the lineout.  Briefly Bristol threatened when Larscott lanced into the Nottingham half before passing to Robinson, but the final pass to Giddens was knocked forward.  The final minutes saw Nottingham seeking an unlikely win but the game was summed up in a final knock on by the hosts.

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