'We rose to the occasion' - Lam

Luke Morahan’s double and further tries from Nathan Hughes, Mat Protheroe, Piers O’Conor, John Afoa and Ioan Lloyd sealed a record derby win for Bristol in front of 26,399 supporters in BS3.

But the Director of Rugby insisted the Bears wouldn’t be getting carried away.

“It's pleasing but it's just the start. The boys have been loading up and today they fired a lot of shots. We had to put on a performance, and we're glad the fans are going home happy.

"It wasn't perfect. We knew if we got some more ball, the dam would burst if we kept putting the pressure on.

“At the end of the day, we missed our big goal from last year, we were determined to get into the top six.

“But we’ve been building our game, building our culture. There’s a lot of guys who’ve been here from when I’ve first started, and we’re building a good group a mixture of experience.

“Obviously, I’m very proud of the boys - when you have 26,399 people fill the stadium, I know a lot of people are coming because of the work the boys do in the community.

“They are coming here for a performance and it’s up to us to front.

“It’s round one of 22, there are so many twists and turns are going to happen in the competition, because it’s such a great competition.”

“The Gallagher Premiership, I would say, is one of the toughest in the world because everyone can beat each other on the day.”