Bristol overcame having three players sin-binned in the first half to beat London Irish with a bonus-point victory including five tries.

Irish came back as James Stokes, Mike Willemse and Matt Rogerson went over to draw them level early after the break.

But Bristol scored twice more through Piers O'Conor and Harry Thacker to eventually come away with the win.

Irish also finished the match with five tries as Terrence Heptema and Kyle Rowe crossed for consolations, but four penalties and four conversions from Callum Sheedy took the chance of victory away from the hosts.

Bristol recorded just their second win of the season while Irish were unable to build on their impressive win at Exeter last weekend.

After three tries in the space of seven first-half minutes from Heenan, Fricker and Bates, Bristol looked to be under the pump when they were briefly reduced to 12 men moments before half-time.

Flanker Heenan, full-back Charles Piutau and scrum-half Andy Uren were all sin-binned within the space of seven minutes by referee Matthew Carley.

Irish did manage to draw level with scores from hooker Willemse and flanker Rogerson either side of half-time but Exiles number eight Albert Tuisue then picked up a yellow card for a high tackle on Fitz Harding.

Bristol capitalised on the man advantage as first O'Conor scored under the posts and just before the hour mark, replacement hooker Thacker sprinted clear just seconds after coming on.

London Irish director of rugby Declan Kidney told BBC Radio London:

"We have to take a look at the game as a whole. The first 10 minutes, we were in their 22 three times and didn't come away with any points.

"We did score five tries and scrambled well on occasions, but once again there's big learnings for us in this match.

"It's week-on-week this competition. It's not that we didn't front up for it, we definitely showed that in the way we started, but you have to stay on point for the whole 80 minutes.

"It was a free-flowing match and there's a few technical things that we know if we get those right, it will help us in defence.

"Then it's just a case of a bit more patience in attack as well."

Bristol Bears director of rugby Pat Lam told BBC Radio Bristol:

"I'm really proud of the guys, we've come back after the bye week and really tackled how we can apply our game.

"The way they came through the three yellow cards was a phenomenal effort.

"A real credit to the guys, the resolve to keep playing and keep playing with no fear was great. It's a big five points for us and a great start to phase two of the season.

"The guys who could do something about it on the field through that period with the yellow cards were fighters and really battled."

London Irish: Parton, Stokes, Rona, Van Rensburg, Hassell-Collins, Jackson, Phipps, Goodrick-Clarke, Willemse, Hoskins, Mafi, Simmons, Rogerson (capt), Curtis-Harris, Tuisue.

Replacements: Creevy, Dever, Van der Merwe, Nott, Cooke, White, Hepetema, Rowe.

Sin-bin: Tuisue (46 mins).

Bristol: Piutau, Morahan, Bates, O'Conor, Fricker, Sheedy, Uren, Thomas, Kerr, Afoa, Attwood (co-capt), Joyce, Jeffries, Heenan (co-capt), Harding.

Replacements: Thacker, Lahiff, Armstrong, Hawkins, Thomas, Whiteley, Lloyd, Leiua.

Sin-bin: Heenan (31 mins), Piutau (34 mins), Uren (38 mins).

Referee: Matthew Carley (RFU).