Bristol Bears are yet to hit their top gear this season and yet Saturday's 40-36 victory over London Irish at Ashton Gate took the club top of the Gallagher Premiership.
The highly entertaining, six-try victory confirmed Bristol's best start to a league season since 1999, with a third win of the season having beaten Bath and Wasps in the opening two rounds.
Sale, who started Round Three top of the pile have a bye weekend while Exeter Chiefs, who were in second, play Harlequins at Sandy Park tomorrow.
READ MORE: Bristol Bears 40-36 London Irish LIVE: Reaction from third Premiership win of the season
Discussing Bristol's start to the season, Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam said: "I am happy but not satisfied, five points were on offer and in our home games we have picked up the maximum, we got four last week, but we are still not humming on all cylinders but that is what he are working on.
"There were some good things in there today but it is a mental game as well and we weren't quite at the level we were here against Bath.
"They shouldn’t have been anywhere near us at the end but we fed them that purple patch, and they are good enough to take it, so that is an area we are going to continue to get better at."
England prop Ellis Genge followed his try double against Bath a fortnight ago with another touchdown, and there were also first-half scores for hooker Will Capon, wing Luke Morahan and scrum-half Harry Randall.
Irish were indebted to flashes of brilliance from England international Henry Arundell, who created their opening try and then scored one of his own following an 80-metre breakaway.
But Bristol shaded it after Irish had clawed it back to 26-24, with Jake Heenan and Max Lahiff claiming tries in quick succession, while fly-half AJ MacGinty kicked five conversions.
Arundell, scrum-half Ben White, hooker Isaac Miller, centre Benhard van Rensburg and fly-half Paddy Jackson touched down for Irish, with Jackson adding four conversions and a penalty for a 16-point haul.
MacGinty made a first Bristol start since his summer arrival from Sale, with Genge returning to the front-row and lock Ed Holmes also being called up.
Arundell, meanwhile, made a second successive start at full-back for Irish in a team captained by flanker Matt Rogerson.
Arundell needed just five minutes to make a mark on the contest, beating Bristol defenders Randall and Rich Lane before delivering a scoring pass to White, with Jackson’s conversion opening up a seven-point lead.
Jackson extended Irish’s advantage through a 16th-minute penalty, and Bristol were on the back foot as their opponents looked to capitalise on centre Van Rensburg’s strong running.
But the home side responded impressively to their early deficit, with Randall setting the back-line in motion and centre Piers O’Conor sending Morahan clear for a try that MacGinty converted.
And Irish’s defence was breached again just three minutes later, this time from a driven lineout as Capon claimed the try and MacGinty’s conversion made it 14-10.
Bristol had momentum through their forwards, and they extended their lead seven minutes before half-time when Genge claimed his third try in two games as Irish’s defence struggled to cope with the home side’s physicality.
MacGinty’s third successive conversion took Bristol past 20 points, and a miserable second quarter for Irish continued when White was yellow carded for a high tackle on his opposite number Randall.
And Randall then pounced to secure a bonus point, darting over for Bristol’s fourth try and putting them 16 points clear at the break.
Irish had a second-half mountain to climb, but they struck first when Arundell intercepted MacGinty’s pass inside his own 22 and showed the Bristol defence a clean pair of heels.
Arundell was involved again just seven minutes later, linking superbly with his England colleague Will Joseph in a high-class move that ended when Joseph put Jackson over, and the fly-half converted.
Bristol had seen their lead slashed, yet it was Genge who lifted them, securing turnover possession following a crunching tackle that set up a try for skipper Heenan.
MacGinty converted, and he then added the extras to Bristol’s sixth touchdown as backs and forwards combined impressively before substitute Lahiff finished it off.
Miller’s 72nd-minute try gave Irish a try bonus-point, then Van Rensburg scored, but they could make no further headway as Bristol took over Premiership top spot from early pace-setters Sale.
Bristol Bears: 15. Charles Piutau, 14. Luke Morahan, 13. Piers O'Conor, 12. Sam Bedlow, 11. Rich Lane 10. AJ MacGinty, 9. Harry Randall; 1. Ellis Genge, 2. Will Capon, 3. Kyle Sinckler, 4. Ed Holmes, 5. Joe Joyce, 6. Chris Vui, 7. Jake Heenan (c), 8. Magnus Bradbury.
Replacements: 16. Harry Thacker, 17. Jake Woolmore, 18. Max Lahiff, 19. John Hawkins, 20. Dan Thomas, 21. Andy Uren, 22. Callum Sheedy, 23. Henry Purdy
London Irish: 15 Henry Arundell, 14 Will Joseph, 13 Curtis Rona, 12 Benhard van Rensburg, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Ben White, 1 Will Goodrick-Clarke, 2 Isaac Miller, 3 Oliver Hoskins, 4 Api Ratuniyarawa, 5 Rob Simmons, 6 Matt Rogerson (c), 7 Tom Pearson, 8 Chandler Cunningham-South
Replacements: 16 Joseph Vajner, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Lovejoy Chawatama, 19 Josh Caulfield, 20 Ben Donnell, 21 Caolan Englefield, 22 James Stokes, 23 Ben Loader
Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys (116th Premiership game).
Assistant Referees: Greg Macdonald and Phil Watters.
TMO: Rowan Kitt.
Citing Officer: Jay Curts.
Attendance: 19,231
