SAMOAN star Moto Matu'u believes 14-man London Irish's 27-27 Gallagher Premiership draw at Bristol Bears shows they have the right attitude for the remainder of the campaign.

Exiles lost prop Ollie Hoskins to a red card on the stroke of half-time, but despite playing the whole of the second half at in-form Bears with a man down, Declan Kidney's men snatched a draw with Stephen Myler's 79th-minute penalty.

And Matu'u commented: "There was a packed-out Bristol crowd, but it shows the boys' attitude that we fought to the end.

"Even though we didn't come away with a win, we came away with two much-needed points.

"You can always have a Plan A, but when you get a shot in the face you have to come up with something else. We did really well to adapt to everything which went on in the game.

"We must also say a big thank you to our supporters for making the trip and for us to hear them among the Bristol fans was unreal."

Head coach Les Kiss admitted to mixed emotions, although he too praised the character of his troops.

He admitted: "We had to stand up to it (the red card) and I thought the boys did that well.

"It just shows the heart of the boys and it's another step along the way.

"We need to improve in some areas and we want to win these kind of games, but in terms of where we were at half-time, it was fantastic."

Meanwhile, Australian international second row Adam Coleman came off the bench to make his Exiles debut, and he concluded: "It was awesome to come up to Bristol for the first time and to pull on the London Irish jersey was special to me.

"We're disappointed with a draw, but hopefully we can build on it.

"The character of the boys was impressive, everyone was standing up for each other, and the belief's there now.

"It's really starting to show in the style of rugby."