Gloucester profited from extra manpower after Bristol had paid the price for foul play in the day's sole Premiership clash, at Kingsholm. It was the visitors' heaviest defeat at the ground, and came in front of a crowd of nearly 8,500.

Garath Archer was sent off in the first half and, when Julian White was sin-binned in the second, Bristol were always fighting a rearguard action.

The back-row players Andy Hazell and Junior Paramore claimed the first two of Gloucester's six tries, with David Rees going over for Bristol, his pace taking him past several defenders.

Then came the crucial moment when Archer threw a punch and was dismissed. With three penalties and conversions from Ludovic Mercier and Henry Paul, Gloucester had things sewn up by half-time, with a 23-10 lead.

The visitors emerged strongly at the start of the second half, dominating for 10 minutes, but failed to score. And when Gloucester got going it quickly became one-way traffic. Chris Catling joined the line to score the first of Gloucester's four second-half tries but was injured in the process and was sent to hospital with a dislocated shoulder.

Gloucester finally drove Bristol over their own line for Chris Fortey to score, and with Gloucester making wholesale changes, Andy Gomarsall came on to exert a major influence. He scorched through for a solo try and then James Simpson-Daniel ended the match in style.

Bristol showed what might have been with a try by Andrew Sheridan when they were down to 13 players.

Gloucester: C Catling (R Todd, 60); D O'Leary, T Fanolua (J Simpson-Daniel, 74), H Paul, J Ewens; L Mercier, D Yachvili (A Gomarsall, 76); T Woodman (P Collazo, 51), C Fortey (A Eustace, 64), F Pucciarello, R Fidler (E Pearce, 51), M Cornwell, J Boer, J Paramore, A Hazell.

Bristol: M Carrington (L Nabaro, 50; D Crompton, 74); L Best, D Rees, J Little, S Brown; S Drahm, C Van Zy (S Nelson, 74)l; P Johnstone, N McCarthy, J White, G Archer, A Brown, M Salter, B Sturnham (A Sheridan, 58), C Short.

Referee: N Williams (Wales).