Bristol Bears confirmed their place in the European Challenge Cup quarter-finals with a comprehensive 52-3 win over Brive.
First-half tries from Piers O’Conor and Dave Attwood set the Bears on their way to victory at Ashton Gate.
But Brive were blown apart in the second-half with tries from Alapati Leiua, Sam Bedlow, Luke Hamilton, Will Capon and Mat Protheroe as well as 17 points from the boot of Callum Sheedy.
The result means the Bears remain unbeaten in Europe with 24 points from their opening five games.
The Bears got off to the best possible start when O’Conor crossed for the first try of the match following a great break from Luke Hamilton and some simple hands in the backline. With Sheedy converting the extra points, to add to an earlier penalty.
Bristol had chances to add to their lead, but some sloppy play meant chances were thrown away which allowed Brive to get a foothold in the game.
The visitors responded with a penalty from Tedo Abzhandadze but the Bears scored just before the break when Dave Attwood capitalised on a period of pressure on the Brive line to score the second try of the game, with Sheedy’s conversion making the score 17-3 at the break.
After the break the home side picked up where they left off, when Alapati Leiua broke the defensive line to score the game's third try with less than ten minutes of the half gone.
And not long later the bonus point was secured when Sam Bedlow was sent in under the posts after an offload from Jake Woolmore.
The Bears were really finding their rhythm they added a fifth through Hamilton following an outstanding offload from Attwood which topped off a great return to the team for the second row.
Will Capon added yet another Challenge Cup try from the back of a driving maul before Mat Protheroe scored the Bears' seventh try to take the score over the 50 point mark.
With both sides having emptied their bench the game broke up with neither side able to find a rhythm with Protheroe’s try proving to be the final points on a high scoring day at Ashton Gate which will now host a European quarter-final.
Bristol Bears: 15 Mat Protheroe; 14 Luke Morahan, 13 Piers O’Conor, 12 Sam Bedlow, 11 Alapati Leiua 10 Callum Sheedy, 9 Harry Randall; 1 Jake Woolmore, 2 Harry Thacker, 3 Max Lahiff, 4 Dave Attwood, 5 Joe Joyce, 6 Steven Luatua (c), 7 Dan Thomas, 8 Luke Hamilton.
Replacements: 16 Will Capon, 17 Ollie Dawe, 18 Lewis Thiede, 19 John Hawkins, 20 Jake Heenan, 21 Andy Uren, 22 Ioan Lloyd, 23 Charlie Powell.
Brive: 15 Rory Scholes, 14 Setareki Bituniyata, 13 Guillaume Galletier, 12 Maxience Darthou, 11 Eneriko Buliruarua; 10 Tedo Abzhandadze, 9 Vasil Lobzhanidze; 1 Wesley Tapueluelu, 2 Peniami Narisia, 3 Cody Thomas, 4 Dan Malafosse, 5 Victor Lebas, 6 Steevy Cerqueira, 7 Matthieu Voisin (c), 8 Otar Giorgadze.
Replacements: 16 Vano Karkadze, 17 Karlen Asieshvili, 18 James Johnston, 19 Jan Uys, 20 Kitione Kamikamica, 21 David Delarue, 22 Enzo Herve, 23 Franck Romanet.
Referee: Ben Blain (Sco)
Assistant referees: Graeme Ormiston and Bob Nevins (Sco)
Attendance: 10,478
