Gallagher Premiership

Bristol (14) 31

Tries: Ibitoye, Ravouvou 2, Batley Cons: MacGinty 4 Pens: MacGinty

Northampton (18) 23

Tries: Hendy, Kemeny, Ramm Cons: Makepeace-Cubitt Pens: Makepeace-Cubitt 2

Bristol clinched their first home win of the season with a scrappy bonus-point victory against a much-changed Northampton side.

George Hendy and Josh Kemeny helped Saints to a 15-0 lead inside 20 minutes, before Bristol scored two quick tries of their own through Kalaveti Ravouvou and Gabriel Ibitoye to crawl back into contention.

Ravouvou’s second try on his first start of the season then gave the Bears a narrow lead, before Joe Batley added their fourth to take the game away from the visitors 10 minutes from time.

James Ramm scored with 60 seconds on the clock but it came too late for Saints to take anything from the game, as they fell to their sixth consecutive Premiership defeat on the road.

The win is Bristol’s fourth in a row against Northampton and moves them 10 points clear of their opponents to the top of the table ahead of the rest of the weekend fixtures.

Saints were missing many of their stars with boss Phil Dowson making 10 changes for the game, yet they still capitalised on an unusually out-of-sorts Bristol for much of the first half.

With Fin Smith among their five England internationals missing, debutant George Makepeace-Cubitt stepped up to put the first points on the board for Northampton. The 20-year-old kicked a penalty as repeated errors cost Bristol.

Saints rapidly opened up a 15-0 lead, scoring two tries in three minutes. Tom Pearson found Hendy out wide for the first, who cut inside the last defender to run over.

Seconds later the Bears handed possession to Saints again. Pearson charged through Kieran Marmion and with Kemeny out wide in a two-on-one, he had an easy finish.

Bristol eventually got on the scoreboard as the 30-minute mark approached, spreading the ball wide left and then right and with Ibitoye on the overlap, he had easy finish for his fifth try of the campaign.

Two minutes later they turned the game on its head, as fly-half AJ MacGinty fed a lovely pass to Ravouvou – back in the squad after a shoulder injury – to cut through the Saints line and dive over.

But Northampton went in at the break narrowly in front thanks to a second Makepeace-Cubitt penalty, having seen a third try go begging and held up on the line minutes before.

Both sides coughed up errors again at the start of the second half and it was Bristol who paid the bigger price. Centimetres from Northampton’s tryline, they were held up on their first attempt and knocked the ball on at the second, to roars from the away coaching staff.

Yet out of nowhere the hosts turned it on and started to show what they can do when in full attacking flow.

They ran from deep within their own half after picking off a Ramm pass while Saints were pushing forward.

Flanker Steven Luatua soared through three tacklers with Ravouvou eventually twisting and turning over for his second, to put the Bears in front for the first time.

Bristol did not relent and while a long spell with the ball failed to get them over, they came back for a penalty which MacGinty kicked to push them six points clear.

They opened up daylight 12 minutes from time, with Batley finishing off a passage of play featuring slick handling from Ibitoye and Benjamin Elizalde.

While Ramm, in acres of space, pulled one back with 60 seconds on the clock after a long ball over the top, it was too late for Northampton to come away with anything on the night.

Bristol: Lane; Bates, Ravouvou, Janse van Rensburg, Ibitoye; MacGinty, Marmion; Woolmore, Oghre, Lahiff, Dun, Batley, Luatua, B. Grondona, Harding (c).

Replacements: Thacker, Thomas, Kloska, Owen, Heenan, Wolstenholme, Worsley, Elizalde.

Northampton: Hendy; Ramm, Litchfield, Hutchinson, Seabrook; Makepeace-Cubitt, James; West, Langdon, Millar Mills, Mayanavanua, Coles (c), Kemeny, Pearson, Pollock.

Replacements: Wright, Iyogun, Green, Thornbury, Scott-Young, McParland, Savala, Garside.

Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys