Bristol, who sit sixth in Pool B of the Heineken Champions Cup this season, scored five first half tries as they proved too strong for Bath in the West Country Derby at Ashton Gate.

Luke Morahan, Charles Piutau, and Andy Uren all crossed inside the first half hour before a brace of tries from hooker Bryan Byrne shortly before halftime.

A Semi Radradra score and a penalty try in the second period sealed Bristol’s biggest ever margin of victory in the English top-flight and handed them their sixth win in seven Gallagher Premiership games this season.

Sale Sharks have lost both of their Heineken Champions Cup games this campaign but remained in touch with Bristol in the Gallagher Premiership after their 25-15 victory over Leicester Tigers.

In the TOP 14, 20-year-old Nathanaël Hulleu scored in the last play of the game as Bordeaux Bègles snatched victory in an incredible seven-try thriller against ASM Clermont Auvergne.

Visitors Bordeaux scored twice in the opening 10 minutes with Clement Maynadier and Romain Buros crossing, but went into half-time trailing as Clermont’s Camille Lopez slotted two penalties and converted tries from Fritz Lee and Jean-Pascal Barraque.

A 16-point blitz from Bordeaux in first 20 minutes of the second half saw them take control, with Jean-Baptiste Dubie crossing for a score and Maxime Lucu converting and kicking three penalties.

Lopez continued to rack up points from the tee for Clermont and slotted another conversion when Lee crossed for his second try with just under a quarter of an hour to play.

The French fly-half then looked to have sealed victory for Clermont as he nailed his fifth penalty of the day moments later, but Lucu kept Bordeaux in striking distance with a kick of his own before Hulleu crossed to seal a memorable win.

Elsewhere in the TOP 14, Racing 92 bounced back from two defeats in a row to edge a tense game away at Montpellier.

Last season’s Heineken Champions Cup finalists Racing scored through Louis Dupichot after 35 minutes but trailed at halftime with ill-discipline allowing Montpellier’s Henry Immelman and Benoit Paillaugue to kick 15 points between them.

Montpellier, who sit second bottom of Pool A in the Heineken Champions Cup, threatened to hand Racing a third consecutive TOP 14 defeat as Gabriel N’gandebe dotted down for the hosts.

Racing remained in touch thanks to Maxime Machenaud’s three penalties, and moved to within a point of Montpellier after an Olivier Klemenczak try.

Antoine Gibert then stepped up to a nail a penalty with less than three minutes on the clock to seal a dramatic victory for Racing.

Last season’s European Rugby Challenge Cup winners Bristol Bears romped to a 48-3 victory over Bath Rugby on Friday night to cement their place at the top of the Gallagher Premiership.