Bristol Bears 62 Northampton Saints 8: Tom Vickers' review and player ratings

A systematic demolition job done on a Saints side who had headed to the south west shorn of players but bursting with belief.

Phil Dowson's side had won their previous three Premiership matches, gritting their teeth to defeat Leicester, Sale and Gloucester.

In times of trouble, they came up with answers that allowed them to prevail, propelling themselves up to third in the table.

But that ability to stay in the game and problem solve completely eluded them at Ashton Gate on Friday night.

Because after a bright start to the match, in which Bristol defended superbly, things simply fell apart for Saints.

And how.

Nine tries, 62 points and 23 players left with a huge amount of pain.

They had made Saints history, they were the team who had given this club its record Premiership defeat.

On the other side, Bristol were able to celebrate their record Premiership win, with some of their fans singing 'can we play you every week?'.

And who could blame them?

This is a Bristol side who had gone into the game in good form, with their only loss in their past six matches coming in agonising fashion at Saracens in January.

With key men such as Semi Radradra and Charles Piutau back, their confidence started to flow as their defence laid the foundations for victory.

At the other end of the field, Saints had less foundation, more quicksand as they sunk deeper and deeper into the night.

They were hit with sucker punch after sucker punch, getting caught cold so frequently before the break.

And after it, there was no response.

It was strange to see from a Saints side who have very rarely fallen apart like this in recent times.

They have pretty much always found a way to keep the scoreline close in Premiership matches.

It seemed that gone were the days when they shipped half-centuries with little reply at the hands of sides like Saracens and Leicester.

But this was worse than anything that had come before for Saints in England's top division, made even more gut-wrenching by the level of the opposition.

That is not to discredit Bristol because they played so well here.

It takes two to tango and if you're going to dance with the Bears, you'd better take the lead.

Saints couldn't do it, failing to take any of their early chances - and they were then made to suffer.

Their defensive record this season has left so much to be desired, and the black, green and gold have now shipped an eye-watering 64 league tries.

To put that into context, that is a whopping 26 more than both Saracens and Sale, who currently sit first and second respectively.

Saints have conceded 452 points in 15 games, an average of 30 per match.

And those are not statistics that are going to win you trophies.

The good thing though, is they still have time to put this right.

This was, after all, just one match.

A horrible abhorration following a strong run of results.

And let's not forget that many of the 14 men they were missing at Ashton Gate are so influential.

In fact, you could easily say that Saints were missing 10 or 11 of what you would class as their cup final 15 - their first-choice side.

That is far too many players to have to do without – but at least England got their three days of training in, eh? – and it really showed against Bristol.

Those who took to the field at Ashton Gate will be hurting so much, and their task now is to channel that agony into a win against Bath on Friday night.

Because it's not about how you get knocked down, it's about how quickly and how successfully you get back up.

If Saints remain on the canvas at cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens, the clock will be ticking down on their fight for a play-off place.

But if they can show the kind of resilience they have in the past - which was clearly not in evidence against Bristol - then they can banish these Bears demons very quickly indeed.

How they rated…

GEORGE HENDY – cut some nice lines in attack and grabbed a try, but was given a really tough night in defence as Bristol flew at Saints from all angles… 3

COURTNALL SKOSAN – tried to conjure chances up but Bristol snuffed him out well… 3

FRASER DINGWALL – the skipper kept plugging away for his team but there was little joy in this display as he was largely restricted to a defensive role… 3.5

RORY HUTCHINSON – took a hefty blow to the face early in the game and spent most of the rest of the match trying to make tackles as Bristol poured on the pain… 3

TOM COLLINS – the only slight chink of light on a gloomy night as the fleet-footed winger caused Bristol problems when he got the ball… 4

FIN SMITH – not an easy night for the fly-half as he couldn’t get any control in the game at all… 3

CALLUM BRALEY – the scrum-half tried to get things moving early on but his chances to influence the game reduced as Bristol took control… 3

ETHAN WALLER – missed a couple of key tackles early on as Bristol did well to isolate Saints’ big men, and it was a difficult 40 minutes for the prop… 3

SAM MATAVESI – a really tough return to action for the hooker as Saints struggled so badly at lineout time and he couldn’t help them turn the tide… 3

ALFIE PETCH – tried to use his power to push Bristol back early on, but they stood tall and eventually got on top… 3

LUKHAN SALAKAIA-LOTO – tried to carry his team forward but was often left isolated in his work and Bristol were able to halt him… 3.5

ALEX MOON – worked hard for his side, as ever, but couldn’t make too many inroads… 3.5

ALEX COLES – was only able to stay on the field for 25 minutes as he had to come off with concussion with Saints 17-3 down at the time… 4

ANGUS SCOTT-YOUNG – racked up a huge amount of tackles and, unlike many of his team-mates, he didn’t miss many on a night when his effort went unrewarded… 4

SAM GRAHAM – made some thunderous hits in the opening stages of the game but his influence faded as Saints sunk deeper and deeper… 3.5

Replacements (who played more than 20 minutes)

KARL WILKINS (for Coles 25) – found himself on the wrong side of the referee on a couple of occasions and it was a tough night… 3

ALEX WALLER (for E Waller 40) – made a couple of big carries but that was as good as it got as Bristol were in defiant mood… 3

PAUL HILL (Petch 40) – tried to add some aggression but didn’t have much luck as Saints were submerged… 3

AARON HINKLEY (for Graham 55) – delivered a fine assist for Hendy’s score, but was yellow carded as he paid the price for Saints’ offending… 3

CHRON STAR MAN - Charles Piutau (Bristol)