HARRY Randall underlined his England potential with a dominant scrum-half display as Bristol put a slipshod first-half behind them to book a home quarter-final.
Randall, enjoying a productive stint with Bristol after being deemed surplus to requirements at Gloucester in 2018, is on the radar of Red Rose boss Eddie Jones and proved why with an all-action effort as Pat Lam's side racked up seven tries without reply.
Super-quick to every breakdown and fizzing passes for fun, the 22-yearold kept his side ticking as Bristol underlined their credentials as one of the tournament favourites. Lam said: “Harry's a talented player. He bossed things out there and was demanding of the players around him.”
Bristol made the early running with Sam Bedlow, Mat Protheroe and Luke Morahan finding holes before Brive went offside and Callum Sheedy stroked them ahead.
Further enterprising play involving Randall, Sheedy and Luke Hamilton was rewarded on 13 minutes when the ball went wide for Morahan to send in Piers O'Conor.
Randall, showing another side of his game, tracked back well to cover Peniami Narisia's break and was then at the heart of Bristol's next wave of hightempo attacks as Bedlow, Protheroe and forwards Jake Woolmore, Dave Attwood and Harry Thacker joined in the fun.
Bristol's dominance was not rewarded on the scoreboard, though, and frustration grew as Dan Thomas was shoved into touch after Protheroe's diagonal dash.
Having weathered the storm, Brive replied through Tedo Abzhandadze's penalty before Setareki Bituniyata intercepted Bedlow and looked set to go the length. However, the Fijian possessed neither the pace nor step to follow through and was easily hauled down.
Chastened by their escape, Bristol came again and, after Protheroe had made good ground once more, Morahan committed Brive's defence before smuggling the ball to Randall, who offloaded for Attwood to stroll in unopposed. Sheedy converted for a 17-3 half-time lead.
Brive took the unusual step of replacing their entire front row during the interval but, after Bedlow turned over an initial attack, the move backfired when their scrum was splintered, enabling Sheedy to kick deep before Bristol built concerted pressure from the lineout.
Eventually, Sheedy's reverse pass sent Morahan haring through and when the ball was recycled by Randall, Sheedy was on hand to fire Alapati Leiua under the sticks.
Joe Joyce linked well with Leiua and Thacker as Bristol attacked again and the bonus-point try arrived on 51 minutes when more sharp work from the impressive Randall enabled Sheedy to release Woolmore, whose popped pass sent Bedlow over.
Attwood's rhino-like charge left hooker Vano Karkadze in a daze and the powerhouse England lock was soon involved again, capping a splendid afternoon's work by pummelling through some white-flag defending before handing Hamilton a simple walk-in.
Try No.6 soon followed – a catch and drive routine finished by hooker Will Capon – and with Brive's defensive efforts now bordering on abysmal, Protheroe helped himself to the next from Leiua's cutout pass following a superb one-handed pick-up from Bedlow.
Brive raised themselves briefly to threaten through Bituniyata but Bristol's defensive commitment was unrelenting.
Lam added: “We turned the ball over 15 times in the first 30 minutes but overall I'm pleased after some disappointing results over the last three weeks. Our speed of ball was much improved and we go to Zebre looking for five points for top seeding.”
