Dismal Bath returned to the Premiership basement after west country rivals Bristol brushed them aside 31-17 in front of a 10,000 Memorial Stadium crowd.

Bath crashed to their sixth league defeat from eight starts, and were never seriously in contention as Bristol led 31-3 midway through the second half.

Tries from half-backs Gareth Cooper and Olly Barkley provided scant consolation as Bath sorely missed the presence of seven internationals.

Bristol, for who this was only their second league win against their fierce rivals, were deprived their Argentinian half-backs Agustin Pichot and Felipe Contepomi through Test calls, but their forwards displayed a far healthier appetite for the physical exchanges.

Bristol's former England lock Garath Archer led from the front, producing a towering line-out display and putting in several crunching tackles. He also scored Bristol's opening try, and was a deserved man of the match recipient.

Bath, without the inspirational Mike Catt to run the show from fly-half, found themselves 9-0 adrift inside the opening 12 minutes after Bristol fly-half Shay Drahm booted three penalties - two of them from just inside his own half.

In contrast, Bath's England full-back Matt Perry was woefully off target and, although he managed a 24th-minute strike, Drahm's fourth successful kick made it 12-3 at half-time.

Bristol's biggest league crowd for several seasons then had plenty to shout about when the home side effectively wrapped up the points through a two-try burst in nine minutes during the third quarter.

Bristol, having had flanker Craig Short sin-binned for use of the elbow before the interval, capitalised fully when Bath lock Mark Gabey was yellow-carded after a high tackle.

With Bath temporarily down to 14 men, Bristol skipper Jason Little made headway and South African scrum-half Dan van Zyl sent Archer over.

Drahm converted and was then on hand to add the extra points when Matt Salter's line-out take and drive ended with hooker Neil McCarthy touching down.

Drahm's conversion put Bristol out of sight at 26-3, but there was more to come for an ecstatic crowd.

Bath's defence was cut open by some impressive Bristol handling, and wing Spencer Brown finished off a fine move in the corner.

Bristol's job was done at this stage, the points secured to repeat last season's Memorial Stadium victory over Bath and at one stage their all-time record win of 44-6 in the fixture was at threat.

Bath rallied and the strong run by impressive young flanker James Scaysbrook ended with Cooper scooting clear.

Fly-half Barkley relieved Perry of kicking duties and booted the conversion before Barkley himself added another try five minutes from time which he also converted.

The damage had long since been done though, leaving Bath to contemplate another miserable Premiership result after recent victories against Sale and London Irish had promised a revival.

Bristol, in contrast, consolidated a mid-table spot on a day when their forward power was far too much for a fragile Bath eight.