The milestone victory also made an impression on coach Pat Lam, although he was more mindful of getting things right in Friday's home game against Sale Sharks after the Bears were beaten at Ashton Gate by Exeter Chiefs in last season's Christmas fixture.

Lam said: "We equalled the Saracens 2011 team and now at Bristol Bears we've beaten that record. To go undefeated for the whole calendar year as well is something we can be proud of, because we've created history.

"But we tick that and move on. We've got a massive game on Friday, and this time last year we had a full house and we played poor rugby, which was my fault as tactically I got the whole game wrong, so we owe our fans a massive performance against a tough Sale team who are going well."

The win also kept Bristol level with Bath at the top of the Premiership, increasing expectations that the club could win its first league title.

"We've been in this position since we pushed ourselves to the top of the table. So that's driving us, knowing what we can do."