Rampant nine-try Gloucester dismantle Bristol
Written by I Dig Sports
Gloucester scored nine tries in a show-stopping display as they beat neighbours Bristol 53-28 to move back up to third in the Premiership table.
Christian Wade and Seb Atkinson both scored hat-tricks for the Cherry and Whites as they completed a double over the Bears for the first time since the 2016-17 campaign.
The first half alone saw nine tries scored and 55 points shared, as Gloucester raced to an unopposed try-scoring bonus point in 17 minutes.
The home side scored another three unanswered tries after the break before James Williams managed a fourth for Bristol to ensure they left the sold-out Kingsholm with at least a point of their own.
If high-scoring entertainment is what the Premiership wants this season, fans were treated to another rip-roaring spectacle as Gloucester produced one of their most blistering displays in attack to delight the home crowd.
The debate about whether that quest to glitter in attack is coming at a detriment to defence will continue but the hosts were eye-catching almost every time they ran with the ball.
A week ago at Ashton Gate, Bristol achieved the second-fastest bonus-point score in Premiership history in just 16 minutes when they beat Exeter, and Gloucester seemingly started their own stopwatch and almost bettered it, with four rapid opening tries of their own helped by some poor Bears defending and errors.
A Bristol penalty deep in Gloucester's 22 immediately gave the hosts an opening, and Carreras chipped the ball through to a racing Wade to dab down in the corner on three minutes.
Four minutes later they had a second as Harry Bryne's ball went loose and Santiago Carreras pounced, scooping it up before cleverly sending a one-handed pass around the back to feed Josh Hathaway.
Chris Harris added their third, as another Bristol penalty gifted Gloucester a kick to touch for a line-out. Charlie Atkinson broke easily through a tackle and with Harris inside he scored next to the posts.
Nothing was going Bristol's way as Byrne's kick to restart into the swirling wind went straight out and from a Cherry and Whites scrum on halfway, the ball was passed out wide to Hathaway who raced downfield.
His long ball back inside was expertly picked out of the air one-handed by a jumping Tomos Williams, whose no-look pass then found Seb Atkinson to run under the posts for the crucial fourth score to make it 24-0.