Cornish Pirates: Coach Gavin Cattle proud despite heavy defeat at Bristol

The loss at Ashton Gate was Cornish Pirates' biggest of the season

Cornish Pirates coach Gavin Cattle says he is proud of his side despite their heavy 56-19 loss at runaway Championship leaders Bristol.

The Pirates conceded 28 points in the opening 26 minutes and Bristol ran in eight tries in total.

Cattle's side stay sixth in the table, while Bristol are 13 points clear after their 12th win from 12 matches.

"You can't deflect too much from what Bristol are creating here, they've got a hell of a squad," he said.

"I'm proud of our lads that they stuck at it.

"When you play teams like this and put our boys in this sort of atmosphere and occasion they're going to take a lot from it.

"A lot of things we did under pressure were out of character in the first half defensively, so there's a lot to work on.

"There's a big gulf in terms of not just size of squad, but experience as well," he told BBC Radio Cornwall.