BRISTOL were hammered on Sunday as Wasps produced a breathtaking display to win 70-22 at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.

Bristol were torn apart by the pace and power of the home side, who scored four tries in a 17-minute spell in the first half.

Wasps scored a total of 10 tries, with two apiece for Christian Wade, Elliot Daly and Ashley Johnson. Jake Cooper-Woolley, Tommy Taylor, Matt Symons and Danny Cipriani were the other try scorers with Jimmy Gopperth converting seven and kicking two penalties for a match tally of 20 points.

Jack Lam, Gaston Cortes and Mitch Eadie scored Bristol's tries with Tusi Pisi kicking a penalty and a conversion. Adrian Jarvis added a conversion.

Bristol director of rugby Andy Robinson conceded that it had been a very tough afternoon.

Four tries in 17 minutes had seen Wasps build up a 37-3 half-time lead but Bristol showed greater spirit after the interval and narrowly missed out on a bonus point.

Robinson said: "We can't afford to make as many errors as we do. Premiership sides are very efficient. There were times when we were on the front foot, Wasps' defence then put us on the back foot so we lost possession and conceded seven points.

"You need to look after the football a lot better and we made a number of disappointing decisions defensively as we gave them too much space on the outside.

"We know we are going to get days like this but if we work hard, we'll be able to turn it round as our endeavour to get a bonus point was good."

Wasps made a dream start, taking the lead just a minute in with a try from Taylor off a line-out drive.

Bristol quickly responded with their first score when a well-judged kick from Will Cliff secured the visitors a platform in the home 22 and when Wasps were penalised, Pisi kicked the goal.

Back came the hosts to take an 11-3 lead at the end of the first quarter thanks to two Gopperth penalties.

A minute later, Wasps had extended that advantage courtesy of a stroke of good fortune. Wade led the chase after Cipriani had cross-kicked, only for the ball to rebound back off the corner flag. Wade and Ryan Edwards overran the ball for Daly to pick up and score a simple try.

Two minutes later the game was virtually over when Joe Simpson created his side's third try for Cooper-Woolley and it certainly was by half-time as by then, Wasps had scored two further tries.

First Symons crashed over for the bonus point before Daly strolled through the Bristol defence to create a try for Wade. Gopperth converted both for a 37-3 half-time lead.

The only blot for Wasps on a supreme first-half performance was losing number eight Guy Thompson with a leg injury to be replaced by Nathan Hughes, while Bristol's Ryan Bevington departed with a cut to the head.

After the restart, Bristol were first on the scoreboard with a try from skipper Lam but the respite was temporary as Wade danced through the visitors' defence for his second before replacement Johnson crashed over for Wasps' seventh.

Both teams made wholesale substitutions, with Kyle Eastmond coming on for his league debut for Wasps.

Cipriani then raced in from halfway after combining cleverly with Frank Halai before Eadie crossed for Bristol to leave them trailing 56-15 at the end of the third quarter.

Two of Wasps' stars on the day, Wade and Simpson, had departed by then but it made little difference as Johnson forced his way over for his second. A try from Cortes gave Bristol hope of a bonus point but Daly scored Wasps' 10th, with Gopperth's conversion taking them up to 70.