Tainton hopes Bristol will bounce back

Bristol interim head coach Mark Tainton is confident the future of the club is bright despite being relegated on Sunday against Wasps.

Their return to the Championship was confirmed over the weekend as Wasps won 36-21 at Ashton Gate, with Worcester having beaten Bath 25-19.

After the game Tainton, who will be replaced next season by Pat Lam, remained upbeat and believes the club will soon be back in the Premiership.

"Obviously it's disappointing to get relegated, but we've put a plan in place whether we were going to stay in the Premiership or get relegated," he told BBC Sport after Bristol suffered their 17th loss of the campaign.

"We have the infrastructure at Ashton Gate to be a Premiership team – we're not going to be next year, but hopefully the supporters will still watch us in that league.

"Bristol more than most know what a difficult league it (the Championship) is, but hopefully we can bounce back very quickly."

He added on their performance: "It was a similar story to a lot of games – we've created an awful lot, we've been in the opposition 22 many times but we've just not executed and got across the line.

"We give Wasps an opportunity and they score tries, it's as simple as that – that's the difference in the level we need to get to.

"We were down and beaten in the second half but we played right until the very end of the game – I expect that from them in the next two games."