The Kingsholm head coach labelled the first 30 minutes as one of the worst of his reign and the energising effect it had on Bristol's remarkable band of forwards - wonderfully led by Andrew Blowers - was the decisive factor in a cherished home-town victory.

"I would like to apologise to anyone associated with Gloucester Rugby for that performance," Ryan said. "It was unacceptable - appalling. We have had a group with people returning from internationals but this is about Gloucester and is performance-related - being top of the league is not a crumb of comfort for me.

"We had a team with 10 internationals in it and strolled into town expecting it to happen but straight into a car crash - for me that is unacceptable and we must deal with it.

"Essentially, rugby is a simple game and when we started to do those things in the last 20 or 30 minutes you saw a much clearer image of what we can be. But by then, the clocking is against you and we paid for that."

Gloucester were so disjointed in the first-half that even three tries could not mask their deficiencies against Bristol's driving platform laid by the likes of Roy Winters, Scott Linklater and Blowers. Their exit strategies at the contact area were confused and badly executed and they didn't stack up physically when it mattered.

They also made plenty of errors - re-starts went dead, they conceded far too many penalties to a marksman of Jason Strange's ability and paid a hefty price when skipper Marco Bortolami was in the sinbin when Jason Hobson scored from a five-metre line-out drive - a carbon copy of a score three minutes earlier for Linklater.

Despite the errors from both teams, it was a cracking match - full of tension and aggression. Gloucester were 6-0 down after eight minutes thanks to two Strange penalties before they scored three tries in 15 minutes.

The first came when Lesley Vainikolo straightened a line-out drive up the centre, Jack Adams - comfortably Gloucester's best player - cut back against the defence and headed to the line. Although he was held, Jeremy Paul and Chris Paterson combined to send James Simpson-Daniel over in the corner.

Gloucester scored again three minutes later when Vainikolo returned a long kick, Bortolami hit the line before Simpson-Daniel raced after his own chip towards the goal-line Luke Narraway arrived first but failed to pick up but Adams was alert enough to collect the loose ball and score.

Paterson's rather rocky afternoon continued with a failed conversion attempt and Strange then cut the gap to 10-9 with his third penalty after Gloucester's stand-off was penalised for not rolling away.

But the gifts continued to come for Gloucester and it threatened Bristol's very chances. Winters won a clean line-out ball on half-way but Strange's midfield pass was picked off by Anthony Allen who went the 50 metres to score. Paterson this time added the extras to take Gloucester 17-9 ahead - and they had hardly created a thing of their own making.

However, there was not a feeling of conviction or control about Gloucester's lead. Bristol's ability to exploit them in the tight exchanges was crucial and when Strange took what appeared a gamble by driving a penalty to the corner after 32 minutes, Bristol were rewarded with a try for the terrific Linklater.

Gloucester may be a bit sore about the second carbon copy score after Simpson-Daniel was penalised for not rolling away after a good tackle on David Hill but once Strange had found virtually the same spot with his penalty there was a chilling sense of inevitability about what happened next - Hobson reaching through a thicket of bodies for Bristol's second try from another big shunt.

Strange did the rest and Bristol's 17-9 deficit had become a 23-17 lead. Bristol's fires were well stoked now - they were a collection of angry individuals who were playing out of their skin. They dominated possession for so long in the second half it was a wonder they only had a 45th minute Strange penalty and then a drop-goal to show for their endeavours.

The likes of Matt Salter, Joe El Abd and co were fundamental to Bristol's efforts and it was not until Alasdair Strokosch, Willie Walker and Andy Titterrell came off the bench that Gloucester found some simple direction.

Walker landed penalties after 69 and 71 minutes to bring Gloucester to within three points and touching distance of an unlikely victory. And had they managed to sustain a period of pressure any long in the dying stages - when they involved Vainikolo, Simpson-Daniel, Iain Balshaw and Allen - they could have grabbed all the spoils.

But in truth they had woken to the contest far too late and Bristol shut the game down with particular relish through their forwards - it was just what they deserved.