Premiership: Bristol Bears 40-36 London Irish - Bristol go top with third consecutive win

Replacement Max Lahiff scores Bristol's sixth try of the afternoon against London Irish

Unbeaten Bristol went top of the Premiership with a bonus-point 40-36 win over London Irish.

After Ben White gave Irish the lead, Bristol scored four unanswered first-half tries through Luke Morahan, Will Capon, Ellis Genge and Harry Randall.

Henry Arundell and Paddy Jackson cut the gap to two, but Jake Heenan and Max Lahiff quickly pushed it back out.

Isaac Miller and Bernhard Janse van Rensburg ensured Irish took a point, as Bristol moved top of the table.

After finishing 10th last season Bristol have now won their first three matches of the new Premiership campaign for the first time since 1999.

The hosts enjoyed the best of the early possession, though it was London Irish who got the first points on the board after Arundell's dummy helped set up White under the posts.

A Jackson penalty extended the gap to 10 yet it was short-lived, as Morahan crossed in the corner for Bristol after a break through the middle. Capon was next from a line-out maul before Genge - back in the starting 15 - went over with his third try of the season.

Seconds before half-time White was sent to the sin-bin for a high tackle on Randall, and with the clock in red the scrum-half added the Bears' fourth, who seemed in control.

Irish were far from out of it though, and punished Bristol for sloppy possession. Arundell ran almost the length of the field to score from an interception, before Jackson pegged the hosts back to 26-24 after an off-load from Will Joseph.

Pat Lam made changes and got the required response, with replacements Heenan and Lahiff crossing from close range to stretch the advantage.

Still, Irish were not done and while James Stokes was held up over the line on 69 minutes, Miller didn't miss from a rolling maul. Van Rensburg followed four minutes from time to set up a tense finale as Bristol narrowly held on for a third consecutive win.

Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam told BBC Radio Bristol:

"We got off to a poor start at 10-0 down but then worked our way right through to take a commanding lead at half-time.

"I said to the boys how did we get back in, and they talked about trusting our gameplan, working our way through it and we scored good tries. I said well that's the solution for the second half.

"Unfortunately we put some pressure on, they got an intercept and we gave away another soft try for their second one and it brought them back into the game.

"[We showed] our character to finish it off and ultimately five points is what we've got which is the most important thing."

London Irish head coach Les Kiss told BBC Radio London:

"We started really well. I thought we were organised, very ordered but also very clinical, and got off to a 10-0 start.

"From there we had a patch where we just weren't on it, probably a little untidy, a couple of loose balls, we weren't as direct as we usually are to create the space. That put them on the front foot and then I think we struggled into half-time.

"Second half I think the boys really came out and turned it around. But we had probably what you'd call a couple of moments where two quickfire tries from them just turned the game again, so then we're up a hill again.

"But the boys never gave up. They just kept going and were very close to turning the result around at the end. But the way we started and the way we finished we've got to be able to put more of those in the middle of our game."

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Bristol: Piutau, Morahan, O'Conor, Bedlow, Lane, MacGinty, Randall; Genge, Capon, Sinckler, Holmes, Joyce, Vui, Heenan (c), Bradbury

Replacements: Thacker, Woolmore, Lahiff, Hawkins, Thomas, Uren, Sheedy, Purdy

London Irish: Arundell, Joseph, Rona, Van Rensburg, Hassell-Collins, Jackson, White; Goodrick-Clarke, Miller, Hoskins, Ratuniyarawa, Simmons, Rogerson (c), Pearson, Cunningham-South

Replacements: Vajner, Fischetti, Chawatama, Caulfield, Donnell, Englefield, Stokes, Loader

Sin bin: Ben White (39 mins)

Referee: Tom Foley

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