JUBILATION was in full flow at the Mennaye as the Cornish Pirates tore up the form book to hand Bristol their first defeat in the 2014/15 season.

Braces from Rob Elloway and Craig Holland plus a try from Joe Atkinson helped the hosts record a famous 45-38 victory in front of a bumper crowd with 2,390 fans inside the stadium.

A trio of penalties from Kieran Hallett and a drop goal in the fifth minute from Matt Evans also contributed to the scoreline for the home team, who at one stage were 11 points behind before storming back.

After the Canadian full-back had put the Pirates ahead, referee Greg Gardner gave Bristol a penalty try after he was unhappy with proceedings at a driving maul.

It seemed a tad harsh, but the Pirates soon went over with a dominant catch-and-drive of their own with hooker Elloway at the end of the move, with Hallett converting.

Poor tackling saw Samoan international David Lemi and Jack Tovey both get over for Bristol to make score 21-10, but another great response was put in by the Pirates as they finished the half a point ahead thanks to tries from Atkinson and Holland.

The latter was a fantastic move as Hallett timed and measured a kick perfectly for Holland to grab hold of and run in at the left hand corner.

Momentum kept going for the Pirates in the second half with two tries in the space of 120 seconds as Holland went over again before breaks from Darren Barry and Atkinson set up Elloway's second.

A bit shellshocked, Bristol tried to come back and number eight Mitchell Eadie barged over from a driving maul move.

Matthew Morgan missed the conversion from near the left touchline. 

His counterpart fly-half Hallett then showed him how to do it with a fine penalty kick from 42m out. 

Another penalty try was given to the visitors after Gardner thought he saw an infringement at a scrum up five metres from the Pirates' line, but the boot of Hallett pushed them to two scores ahead with a couple more well hit penalties.

With the crowd now buzzing, it seemed all but certain Bristol's losing streak at the Mennaye, which stretches back to 2004, would continue.

Tovey went over the try line again for the league leaders in injury time, but this would do nothing but give them a losing bonus point as shortly afterwards, the final whistle was blown, much to the delight of the home players, coaches and supporters.

PIRATES: 15 Evans, 14 Pope, 13 Hendrickson, 12 Dancer (James 78), 11 Holland, 10 Hallett, 9 Kessell; 1 Davies (Walker 59), 2 Elloway (Innard 72), 3 Ford-Robinson, Graulich (Davey 68), 5 Barry, 6 Morgan, 7 Atkinson, 8 McGlone.

UNUSED REPS: Deformes, Lowry, Hopkin.

TRIES: Elloway (14, 47), Atkinson (30), Holland (35, 45).

CONS: Hallett 4/5.

PENS: Hallett (65, 74, 78).

DROP GOAL: Evans (5).

BRISTOL: 15 Wallace (N Robinson 55), 14 Benvenuti (Watkins 60), 13 Tovey, 12 Mosses, 11 Lemi, 10 Morgan, 9 Peel (c, Hampson 69); 1 O'Connell, 2 Lawrence (McMillan 48), 3 Hall (Cortes 48), 4 Evans (Sorenson 48), 5 Glynn, 6 Mama, 7 O Robinson (Ovens 64), 8 Eadie.

TRIES: Penalty (11, 71), Lemi (15), Tovey (22, 80), Eadie (57).

CONS: Morgan 4/6.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Kieran Hallett.