Bath Rugby will need to wait another year – at least – to resume their top-flight rivalry with Bristol after London Welsh were promoted back to the Aviva Premiership at the first attempt on Wednesday night.
Bristol needed to overturn a 19-point deficit from the first leg of the GKIPA Championship play-off final in their last-ever game at the Memorial Stadium but were beaten 21-20 by the Oxford-based outfit, who won 48-28 on aggregate.
The hosts, who finished eight points clear at the top of the regular-season table, ran in three tries in the second leg through Andy Short, Mitch Eadie and Adam Hughes.
They closed the gap to eight points with ten minutes to go but scores from Welsh duo Carl Kirwan and Seb Staggmann consigned Andy Robinson's side to another season in the second tier.
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