"We think we should be undefeated this season" said Pat Lam: 5 talking points from Bristol Bears vs Northampton Saints

1. Bristol Bears end losing streak at home, finally winning at Ashton Gate

Bristol Bears finally broke their losing streak at Ashton Gate recording a 31-23 victory over Northampton Saints after late defeats to Saracens and Gloucester in the previous fixtures at home. Despite being 15 points down in the first half, the Bears were able to fight back, getting a crucial win in front of their home fans against last years Premiership champions.

Pat Lam said: "we are pleased but not because we needed it, because we wanted it. If anything we were more disappointed with the fact that we felt we should have had two wins from those previous games, we thought we should have been undefeated and that is probably why I brought it up last week and why we are happy with the result."

Whilst Bristol ended an unwanted losing streak, this evenings result meant that the Saints extended one of their own, having not won away from home since January this year, when a late Fin Smith conversion took the spoils away to Munster in the Champions Cup. Despite lacking availability, due to both injury and five players away with Steve Borthwick's England squad, Northampton would have liked an away victory but will have to wait until they face Coventry in the Premiership Cup for their next opportunity to end the streak.

Post match, Phil Dowson said: "I think there is always context behind a result, at Leicester I thought we performed really well, we just couldn't put the ball down and so when you look at it on a global scale, yes we aren't winning games but the performances against Leicester and Bath weren't bad or indifferent.

"What do we do looking forward? We need to focus on our performance and not worry about the stadiums around us and what the pitch is like, we just have to make sure that we are doing our jobs and I think that a few of us drifted off doing our jobs in the second half."

Back row pair, Tom Pearson and Henry Pollock, both impressed this evening with strong, physical performances. Pearson did brilliantly to set up the opening tries for the Saints and the pair of them were ferocious either side of the ball throughout the match, with Dowson describing them both as leaders in this side, despite being only 24 and 19 years of age.

The Saints director of rugby said: "Tom Pearson is emerging as a real leader in this team with another brilliant performance and we've got plenty of others with Pollock being one that drives energy.

"Pollock himself has dropped in and adapted very well to Premiership life and he has been himself, he is the character with all the energy who wants the ball in his hands and who constantly wants to be amongst it. We have definitely seen that so far this season, he has got tons of potential and everyone has been talking about him for a long time, we are excited again about seeing where he goes."

Kalaveti Ravouvou scored twice in his Premiership debut and could be crucial for the Bears going forward with the number of injuries they have at the moment.

Pat Lam said: "he was brilliant tonight, but I think every player is important because we need that depth, especially with us having 13 or 14 players unavailable at the moment, with a huge chunk in the backs, so every player has got to play their part.

"Having Ravouvou back really helps with that and we have a few players who aren't far away from being back as well, so we are looking forward to Bill Mata's debut and Max Malin's return."

Fly half, George Makepeace-Cubitt made his debut this evening for Northampton, kicking two penalties and a conversion in his maiden match.

Speaking about him post match, Dowson said: "I was delighted that George was able to play tonight, he made his debut in the Championship two weeks ago off the bench for Cornish Pirates and last week he came on at 15 and got quite a good run around, and then today he stepped in for his debut at 10.

"I thought he was very good value, he's his own harshest critic but he will learn a lot from that and he will get some games over the next couple of weeks in the Prem Cup and he will continue to grow, so we are all very pleased with him."