Andy Robinson felt Bristol had taken "a step backwards" from their opening two GKIPA Championship victories in their performance against Cornish Pirates – despite recording their first bonus point of the season.
Bristol beat Pirates 45-17 in front of 6,785 spectators at Ashton Gate – outscoring their visitors by seven tries to three. But it was three they conceded that stood out for director of rugby Robinson.
"I'm pleased that we got five points from the game – but I think we're all a little bit disappointed with that performance," he said.
"Conceding three tries is very frustrating for us. The manner of what we did, in terms of our shape, wasn't very good – and I think that was a disappointing performance from us and one we've got to make sure we don't repeat next week.
"We conceded a try from 80 metres and one at the end of the game, where we had just scored ourselves and allowed the Pirates to score straightaway. We've got to be better in the way we defend and in our attitude to defence – and also we've got to understand that we can't just give cheap penalties away.
"I think that's what undermined our performance today – the poor discipline of the penalties we gave away, starting with a scrum when we had the ball. That penalty resulted in the first try. In everything we're trying to do, that was again a stop-start performance – and we've probably taken a step backwards today in terms of where we want to be driving ourselves."
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