Gloucester moved into the top three with a six-try victory over West Country rivals Bath – their biggest win at The Rec in the professional era.

Ben Spencer closed the gap to 13 points but tries from Fraser Balmain and Kyle Moyle extended the visitors’ advantage.

Ollie Fox scored late for Bath, who were consigned to a 12th straight loss.

The fixture between the two teams is the oldest between any Premiership clubs, dating back to 1882, with 243 contests in the years since.

The last time these two sides met in the Premiership Rugby Cup, Gloucester emphatically romped to a win by more than 60 points, and Bath’s dismal run this season has seen them make significant changes to their staff, including hiring Brent Janse van Rensburg as defence coach with immediate effect.

An Orlando Bailey penalty gave the hosts the lead three minutes in, but the shortcomings with their defence quickly reappeared when Lloyd Evans found a gap and almost broke through the middle early on.

Bath’s Tom Ellis was then sent to the sin-bin for an infringement and two minutes later Gloucester were awarded a penalty try, with Lewis Boyce also sent to the bin for collapsing the driving maul over the line.

Bailey kicked his second penalty to temporarily close the advantage to a point, but with a two-man deficit Bath’s defensive holes only grew bigger. Ollie Thorley scooped up a high kick from Bath from which Harris was unleashed to sprint for Gloucester’s second.

Singleton then became the next to benefit from Gloucester’s effective driving maul from a line-out, which quite literally ran over the line, to score their third. Remarkably, 21 of Gloucester’s 28 tries this season have now come following a line-out.

A clever kick-through from Adam Hastings picked out Louis Rees-Zammit on the wing, who kicked back in-field for Harris to score his second and wrap-up the bonus point.

The break seemed to do Bath some good and Max Ojomoh made a darting run half-way down the pitch that set up a solid spell of good possession and territory.

Ben Spencer cannily took a quick tap-and-go penalty under the posts to reduce Bath’s deficit to 26-13 but despite repeatedly getting within sight of the Gloucester try line, they took little away in terms of points.

Gloucester, by contrast, took advantage of the first bit of attacking advantage they got, again trucking their maul over from a line-out with ease, with Balmain touching down.

With four minutes to go, a Hastings cross-field kick was picked up by Thorley, who combined with Moyle to add the sixth to ensure it was a record-breaking day for the Cherry and Whites.

Fox scored a second for Bath with the clock in the red, but another significant defeat now leaves Bath 11 points adrift at the bottom of the table.

Bath director of rugby Stuart Hooper told BBC Radio Bristol:

“We didn’t stop the drive. They’ve got the best and we didn’t stop it. We got beaten physically and then I think we just didn’t keep hold of the ball, the attacking breakdown was poor so we couldn’t build on any pressure.

“We want to make sure that we give them the best chance to go out and perform. Evidently, there was something there that wasn’t right. The line-out and defence wasn’t right and we need to work on that.

“Frustration is the right word for that. Some of the young lads – Landy [Bailey], Max [Ojomoh], Tom de Glanville – they’re definitely creating opportunities but as a team we’re not building pressure.

“We’re losing the ball in the attacking breakdown, not building on the opportunities and not forcing them to get to the edges and defend. Yes, there are opportunities there but we’ve got to capitalise on them.”

Gloucester head coach George Skivington:

“We wanted to come here and put that right. It’s a West Country derby and it’s the big one for the supporters. We respect that, but we’re just working really hard to get better, every week.

“Jordy [Reid] missed the start of the season and we hadn’t seen him for a couple of months. He loves the club and works unbelievably hard. He’s a proper warrior.

“We have been building variety around our game for about 18 months and we are seeing the benefits now.”

Bath: De Glanville, Rokoduguni, Joseph, Ojomoh, McConnochie, Bailey, B. Spencer; Boyce, Dunn, Stuart, Williams, Ewels (c), Ellis, Richards, Underhill.

Replacements: Du Toit, Cordwell, Rae, W. Spencer, Merigan, Fox, Butt, Hamer-Webb.

Sin-bin: Ellis (19), Boyce (21)

Gloucester: Evans, Rees-Zammit, Harris, Atkinson, Thorley, Hastings, Meehan; Rapava-Ruskin, Singleton, Gotovtsev, Clarke, Alemanno, Reid, Ludlow (c), Ackermann.

Replacements: Socino, Ford-Robinson, Balmain, Davidson, Clement, Chapman, Twelvetrees, Moyle.

Referee: Matt Carley.