Premiership: Bristol Bears 40-45 Northampton Saints

Northampton Saints forward Lewis Ludlam scored his first try of the season against Bristol Bears

Northampton Saints secured their first away win of the season at Bristol, as both teams claimed bonus points.

Will Hurrell scored the Bears' first try before Ehren Painter and Andrew Kellaway went over for Saints.

Harry Thacker's score levelled things but Lewis Ludlam put Saints back ahead, Taqele Naiyaravoro got their fourth and Alex Waller and Mike Haywood crossed.

Ian Morahan's try, Hurrell's second and Alapati Leiua's late score secured two bonus points for the home side.

Saints opened the scoring through the boot of Dan Biggar before the Bears intercepted a pass and Hurrell powered over.

Northampton hit back as Painter and Kellaway scored their first tries for the club, and Bristol were down to 14 men soon after when Jack Lam was sin-binned for collapsing a maul.

John Afoa beat the final defender to leave Thacker to score after they broke away from a maul but Saints regained the lead when Ludlam scored under the posts, although Callum Sheedy closed the gap for Bristol with a penalty just before half-time.

Naiyaravoro beat two defenders to secure Northampton's bonus point, while Morahan grabbed Bristol's third try of the match.

Saints extended their lead again, as co-captain Waller and substitute Haywood darted over in a five-minute period.

Bristol lost for the first time at home since their return to the top flight but secured two bonus points when Hurrell claimed his second of the afternoon and Leiua went over in the corner in the final minute.

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Bristol head coach Pat Lam:

"Rugby is all about taking your opportunities, and we know we missed out on a big opportunity. Every time we tried to get ahead, we gave away a couple of soft tries.

"We did a lot of things well, and there were things we could certainly do better. As a team, from where we started the first game against Bath to where we are now, I am excited by the group we have.

"Win or lose, we learn. All the games we've had we have challenged and had opportunities.

"I would be more concerned if we were playing at this level and we had no opportunities or we weren't making things happen."

Northampton director of rugby Chris Boyd:

"There is a relief to get five points, but I don't suspect that apart from the win that we are any more happy with the performance than parts of last week or the week before.

"I am probably getting used to the fact it is the nature of the competition. It is reasonably relentless in terms of what it throws up each week in each game.

"We haven't quite found the sweet spot yet around what is best for our group, but we are still exploring it.

"The relieving thing is that we scored some tries this week and got a win, but the performance was a long way from being complete."

Bristol: O'Conor; Morahan, Hurrell, Piutau, Leiua; Sheedy, Uren; Thomas, Thacker, Afoa, Holmes, Latta, Luatua (capt), Smith, Lam.

Replacements: Fenton-Wells, Woolmore, Armstrong, Joyce, Haining, Stirzaker, Pisi, Kirchner.

Northampton: Tuala; Collins, Burrell, Francis, Naiyaravoro; Biggar, Reinach; Waller (co-capt), Hartley (co-capt), Painter, Ribbans, Lawes, Gibson, Ludlam, Harrison.

Replacements: Haywood, Van Wyk, Franks, Ratuniyarawa, Eadie, Mitchell, Kellaway, Mallinder.

Referee: Luke Pearce.