Allan Bateman is targeted by the Bristol defence

Bristol's forwards were caught cold to let the home side back into the game as prop Duncan Jones squeezed through a line-out to score.

Jarvis slotted over the conversion, but another Contepomi penalty gave Bristol a 13-7 lead after 16 minutes.

Bristol were caught napping two minutes later when winger Gareth Morris swept over from a Dave Tiueti pass which Jarvis converted.

The two sides traded penalties - from Contepomi and Jarvis - for Neath to hold a slim 17-16 lead at half-time.

It was cut and thrust afterwards and at one stage Bristol drew level at 26-26 with a try from centre Andy Higgins.

But a penalty try for Neath, converted by Jarvis, in the 73rd minute was the vital score.

In the other match in Pool 5, centre Alexandre Peclier pouched 26 points in Bourgoin's 60-16 win over Viadana for their first win of the campaign.

Pool 5 will be decided next weekend when Bristol host Bourgoin and Neath visit Viadana.

If both teams win, then it will come down to overall try-count, and Bristol are currently 14-11 ahead on touchdowns.

There was less good news for Caerphilly in Pool 7, as La Rochelle full-back Diego Giannantonio broke their hearts with an injury-time try to rob the Welsh side 32-29 at Virginia Park.

With the Frenchmen pressing strongly, Caerphilly fly-half Luke Richards produced what appeared to be a superb clearing kick.

Try count

But the fly-half was controversially ruled to have stepped outside his 22 before he kicked the ball and La Rochelle were handed a line-out deep in Caerphilly territory.

La Rochelle made the most of their unexpected opportunity and Giannantonio picked a superb line to finish off a decisive move.

Caerphilly had been 23-3 ahead at one stage after roaring into the lead with tries from forwards Mark Workman and Ben Watkins, and winger Tauma Taufehema.

Outside-half Luke Richards added one conversion and banged over four penalties, but La Rochelle hit back strongly.

Winger Felipe Toala raced over for two of their five tries, with FredericoTodeschini and Jean-Baptiste Elissalde adding the others, to keep them in the hunt for a quarter-final berth.

In the other match in Pool 7, Gloucester steamrollered Italians Gran Parma 99-0, scoring 15 tries at Kingsholm.

Rugby league convert Henry Paul kicked 12 conversions and also grabbed one of the tries, while Daren O'Leary was the pick of the try scorers with five.

On Sunday, Ebbw Vale recorded a comfortable 26-10 win away in Italy against Rovigo to keep their quarter-final hopes alive.

Vale must now win at home against Agen next week, but they need to score as many tries as they can in the process as Pool 1 could well be decided on try count

Wing Andrew Wagstaff and Matthew James scored the Steelmen's two tries, with Gareth Cull converting both and adding four penalties.

Rovigo replied with two tries of their own, scored by full-back Norman di Maura and Italian backrow international David dal Maso, but Dal Maso was also sin-binned early in the match.

Federico dalla Nora was also shown the yellow card, as was Vale's Tonga flanker Kati Tuipolotu.

Neath's Lee Jarvis made up for an early mistake

Pontypridd were also away in Italy on Sunday, but their Pool 3 match against Overmach Parma was postponed because of a frozen pitch.

However, officials rescheduled the match for Monday and it is due to kick off at 1300 GMT.

Leeds Tykes scraped to a fine win at rivals Beziers in Pool 3 as they edged it 26-25.

London Irish kept their 100 per cent record in Pool 6 with a comfortable 32-8 win at Italian side L'Aquila.

Italian side Petrarca grabbed their second win in Pool 2 with a narrow 36-29 win at Madrid, who have yet to win a game.

There were two tries apiece for Sebastien Kuzbic, Darren George and Alexandre Bouysie as Bordeaux-Begles crushed Bologna 62-19 in Pool 8.

In Pool 4 winger Wayne Munn grabbed a hat-trick of tries and hooker Marnus Uijs two as Connacht crushed Roma 61-13 for their third win of the competition.

Parker Pen Shield results:

Pool 1: Agen 34-13 Montauban; Rovigo 10-26 Ebbw Vale.
Pool 2: Madrid 29-36 Petrarca; Pau 40-12 Colomiers.
Pool 3: Beziers 25-26 Leeds; Overmach Parma P-P Pontypridd.
Pool 4: Connacht 61-13 Roma; Sale P-P Narbonne.
Pool 5: Bourgoin 60-16 Viadana; Neath 33-29 Bristol.
Pool 6: L'Aquila 8-32 London Irish; Dax 95-3 Valladolid.
Pool 7: Caerphilly 29-32 La Rochelle; Gloucester 99-0 GR.A.N Parma.
Pool 8: Bologna 19-62 Bordeaux-Begles; Saracens 113-3 Dinamo Bucharest.