Coventry 16 Bristol Rugby 27: Bristol picked up where they had left off before their enforced 22-day break without a game – but their latest bonus-point victory will not feature too prominently on any end-of-season highlights packages.

The Championship leaders won their ninth successive league match as they made a comfortable return to action – and they have now pocketed a cool 44 points from the last available 45.

Two tries from Ross Johnston and scores from Lee Robinson, Redford Pennycook and Junior Fatialofa ensured Bristol cannot now finish outside the top three in the Championship.

But their latest success was a low-key affair, with the second half in particular failing to set the pulse racing as Coventry offered little in the way of a meaningful challenge to Bristol's raw power.

The visitors – now unbeaten in the league since October 24 – should have gone on to win by a much greater margin than 11 points given their almost complete dominance of proceedings from start to finish.

Paul Hull was at least able to toast a five-point haul away from home, a confident resumption after the recent snow-enforced disruption and another afternoon on which his side's driving line-out scared the life out of their opponents.

But two key factors may concern the head coach as he deconstructs his team's first run-out since New Year's Day: the late try they shipped and the eight points they spurned in missed conversions.

Adrian Jarvis, Tom Arscott and Sam Giddens all failed from the tee as Bristol were unable to make the scoreboard reflect the one-sided nature of the action.

And a 27-9 scoreline – itself flattering to the home team – needlessly became 27-16 thanks to a late lapse in concentration that allowed replacement Dave Askew to breach the Bristol line.

Hull said: "You could see the shape was gone because people were trying a little too hard in certain areas of the pitch.

"But we'll work on that now that we can get some training done outdoors.

" It doesn't help with the shape and pattern when you're training indoors, but we'll get that back and it's just good to get a bonus-point win away from home."

The job was professional rather than flamboyant from Hull's promotion-chasers, who built their victory on a dominant display from their pack.

Three of the visitors' five tries came via the line-out drive, with Coventry merely the latest team to be blown away by one of the most effective weapons in Bristol's arsenal.

Hull added: "It's an area of strength for us and it opens up areas around the pitch. We can attack the blind or the openside from the drive – and we're also scoring from first-phase as well.

"You've got to defend it and we executed it really well on this occasion, so that's one area we're really pleased with."

As they did at full-time, Bristol led by 11 points at the interval, despite enjoying the bulk of the possession and rarely letting Coventry into anything resembling a dangerous area of the field.

With Jarvis kicking penalties to touch as early as the third minute, Bristol made their intentions clear from the outset, although it took them 11 minutes to open the scoring.

They secured line-out ball on the left and quickly moved play to the right, with Jarvis' long pass to Jack Adams the pivotal moment in the build-up.

Adams went past a couple of defenders with a drop of the shoulder and a change of pace, before supplying the scoring pass to the supporting Robinson.

Bristol seemed to be in control – but Coventry's first major foray into the visitors' territory brought them three points when Fangatapu Apikotoa kicked a penalty awarded for offside.

Jarvis sent another penalty to touch and hooker Johnston burrowed over following a powerful line-out drive to make it 10-3 after 25 minutes.

But just as Bristol looked set to find another gear, they were penalised for holding on and Apikotoa found the middle of the posts to make it 10-6.

A four-point advantage soon became 11 points when Arscott was taken out in mid-air and Jarvis won his side another close-range line-out.

Coventry may have known what was coming next – yet they could do little to stop it.

Johnston found his man at the line-out, the pack clicked into gear and Pennycook peeled away from the maul to dive over. Jarvis, having missed his first two attempts at the sticks, hurled the ball to Arscott, who duly made it 17-6.

Bristol stormed out of the blocks after half-time and had wrapped up the bonus point within four minutes of the restart.

Coventry's hearts must have sank when they saw Jarvis slam the ball to touch – and a few seconds later, they were standing behind their posts again as Johnston benefited from another ruthless drive by the visiting pack.

Arscott was unfortunate to see his conversion attempt bounce back off the far upright.

Bristol were temporarily reduced to 14 men when Adams caught full-back Romain Plantey with a cynical, neck-high tackle – and, upon his return, the visitors led 22-9 following a third successful Apikotoa penalty from three attempts.

The game then fizzled out, with Fatialofa slipping between a couple of defenders to cap a flowing team move with Bristol's fifth try, before Askew grabbed a late consolation for the hosts after good work from their forwards.