Greene King IPA Championship play-off final second leg

Bristol 32 Doncaster Knights 34 (Bristol win 60-47 on aggregate)

IT has been seven long years of failure for Bristol Rugby but at last they have scratched that itch and are flying back to the Aviva Premiership big time next season.

A sell-out crowd of 16,084 celebrated into the night as Bristol were beaten on the night at Ashton Gate but had done enough last week in the first leg at Doncaster to seize the initiative with a 15-point lead going into the second leg.

Youngster Callum Sheedy was the star of the show as he held his nerve to boot six penalties and covert tries form scrum-half Will Cliff and number eight James Phillips to skittle out Doncaster who had threatened an amazing comeback as Bristol tired towards the end.

The Knights scored five tries through centre Will Hurrell, full-back Paul Jarvis, wing Tyson Lewis, number eight Ollie Stedman and replacement Lalu Makaafi but they proved not enough.

Doncaster did not look like a team which had given up the ghost on a victory that most would have thought was beyond them against the side which finished top of the table.

Bristol took the lead after a few minutes when fly-half Callum Sheedy booted a 27 metre penalty to give his side an 18-point advantage.

And but for a remarkable last-ditch tackle on wing David Lemi just a metre or so from the line, Bristol would have been almost home and dry in the first ten minutes.

But Doncaster kept the heat on the home side, and a penalty from thirty metres from fly-half Declan Cusack levelled the scores on the night.

The Knights almost went ahead as well when wing Andy Bulumakau was bundled into touch just short of the line.

It was all Doncaster as the first quarter of the match ticked by but they threw away three points when Cusack misfired a shot from in front of the home posts after 25 minutes.

For all their industry, Doncaster could not get through the organised Bristol flat-line defence and when they gave away a penalty near their own 22, Sheedy landed his second shot at goal to restore the 18-point aggregate lead.

From there, Bristol started to turn the screw and another Sheedy penalty put them six points ahead on the night.

Back came Doncaster, though, as centre Will Hurrell burst through a missed tackle in the centre to score under the posts, with Cusack adding the conversion.

The lead lasted less than two minutes as Bristol re-gained the advantage when scrum-half Will Cliff charged down a clearance to rumble over, with Sheedy adding the conversion and giving Bristol a 16-10 half-time lead.

Doncaster went over again after 44 minutes when Hurrell scored but it was disallowed when number eight Chris Stedman was penalised for obstruction on Sheedy.

And Bristol's long-held dream of returning to the Premiership was signed and sealed just before fifty minutes when Sheedy booted his fourth penalty to give his side a massive 24-point lead that they were never going to blow with only 29 minutes left.

The 20-year-old added two more second-half penalties and it seemed a time to start the celebrations in earnest as Bristol stood thirty points ahead on aggregate.

But, with Bristol looking to physically tire, Doncaster stepped up the pace in a heart-thumping finale.

Tries from full-back Paul Jarvis and wing Tyson Lewis brought the Knights roaring back into the match and, when number eight Ollie Stedman scored their fourth try of the match and put them two points ahead, it meant two converted tries in the final ten minutes would give them, not Bristol, promotion.

However, in one final effort, Bristol held their composure as head coach Andy Robinson prowled around at the top of the stand. And, with seven minutes left, a try from number eight James Phillips, that Sheedy converted, relieved any nerves and sent Bristol back to the Promised Land of the Premiership.