Northampton 66 Bristol 3:

It was a procession in the end as a sorry-looking Bristol side struggled to cope with wave after wave of Northampton Saints' attacks.

The Saints crossed for 10 tries – they could have had more – to condemn Richard Hill to his worst defeat as Bristol head coach in this European Challenge Cup pool clash.

Bristol Rugby lost 68-15 to Worcester in April 2004 – but at least on that occasion they scored two consolation tries.

Hill included only one player, centre Luke Eves, from the side that lost 18-13 to London Irish in the Guinness Premiership six days earlier – and Eves was not 100 per cent fit because a cut on his leg had become infected.

Without naming individual players, beyond saying "primarily backs out wide", the Bristol boss blamed a lack of effort for this embarrassing defeat.

Hill said: "We have been to Scarlets and Toulon and competed better than that. There were two or three characters who let the side down very badly.

"Looking at it with the naked eye, there were 12 players who played their hearts out.

"When you play Northampton, you need 15 players who are committed and need to do the basics right.

"There were people making absolutely ridiculous defensive decisions.

"I was thinking about fielding the same side next weekend (at home to Northampton on Sunday) but I will have to think about that again."

The warning signs were there for Bristol early on when centre Chris Mayor knocked on with a three-on-one overlap outside him.

Those warnings were not heeded and Northampton crossed the whitewash for the first time on 11 minutes through right wing Paul Diggin, fly-half Stephen Myler converting.

This wasn't complicated rugby – the Saints drawing in defenders with straight hands, the odd loop or fliers coming off their wings to create overlaps.

Bristol were perplexed, left huge gaps and were taught a lesson in simple back play which was executed with precision and skill.

Skipper Matt Salter's needless sin-binning on 17 minutes didn't help, the flanker deciding to block Diggin when the winger was chasing through his own kick.

A minute later, Saints crossed for their second try. A pushover effort didn't work but when the ball squirted out of the scrum No 8 Roger Wilson picked up and crashed over. Myler added the extras.

Fly-half Adrian Jarvis replied with a penalty but Bristol lost industrious flanker Redford Pennycook after he was knocked out when he got his head in the wrong position when trying to tackle England hooker Dylan Hartley. Pennycook bravely carried on until being replaced at half-time.

Bristol's other young forwards also had mixed matches. No 8 James Phillips carried well but looked ponderous and was too keen to fight, giving away needless penalties. Second-row Dave Attwood also looked good with the ball in hand but he needs to start playing regularly if he is to make it in the Premiership.

The Bristol defence parted a minute before Salter's return when full-back Bruce Reihana exposed hooker Scott Linklater's lack of pace and passed for flanker Mark Easter to go over. Myler again converted.

The Saints made sure of the bonus point on the stroke of half-time when Diggin passed off the deck for wing Chris Ashton to score. Myler converted for a 28-3 lead.

Reihana crossed for try number five on 52 minutes with Eves hanging on to his bootlaces, Myler converting before making way for former All Black Carlos Spencer.

With Reihana already enjoying himself in the open spaces, the last person Bristol wanted to see was Spencer.

Bristol were struggling to live with their hosts, but the Kiwi took Saints to another level, and the visitors were helpless to prevent the onslaught.

Northampton added five tries in 15 minutes and looked like scoring whenever they had the ball.

Prop Soane Tonga'uiha was pulled down a metre short but the ball was fired out wide by Spencer for Ashton to dive over, Spencer converting.

On 67 minutes, Reihana coasted through and passed for replacement second-row Alex Rae to offload and send in Diggin for his second try, Spencer again converting.

It was all too easy for Northampton, with replacement centre Jon Clarke, Ashton and Easter all touching down in the final 10 minutes.

Spencer could have added to Bristol Rugby's misery but he missed two simple conversion chances which would have taken the home side to the 70-point mark.