Green doubled his tally quickly after the restart, but Saints full-back James Pater pounced on Santiago Carreras’ dropped ball to steal possession and sprint the distance to the line.

Carreras made amends with a try of his own although Northampton started turning the screw despite Bath unloading their bench of big-hitters.

Josh Kemeny scored in the corner, Alex Mitchell followed – collecting his own grubber kick in a solo showpiece – and Sleightholme capped a superb move that saw Saints turn the ball over by their own line and sweep up the field.

Sleightholme completed his hat-trick four minutes later and while Bayliss kept Bath in touch to close the gap to 57-48, it did not last as Saints had more in the tank.

Alex Coles barged over before Freeman rounded off a blockbuster day in the closing stages.

Northampton: Pater; Freeman, Hutchinson, Dingwall (c), Sleightholme; Smith, Mitchell; Iyogun, Langdon, Kundiona; Coles, Van Der Mescht, Kemeny, Pollock, Chick.

Replacements: Smith, Fischetti, Neculai, Lockett, Prowse, Taylor, McParland, Belleau.

Bath: Carreras; Cokanasiga, Ojomoh, Redpath, C. Griffin; Russell, Carr-Smith; Kirk, Tuipulotu, A. Griffin; Jeanes, Molony, Bayliss, Reid (c), Green.

Replacements: Dunn, Obano, Stuart, Ewels, Hill, Davies, Lawrence, Coetzee.

Sin bin: Bayliss (26) Lawrence (62)

Referee: Matthew Carley

Zebre: Giovanni Montemauri, Mirko Belloni, Giulio Bertaccini, Damiano Mazza, Simone Gesi, Giacomo da Re, Alessandro Fusco; Sergio Pelliccioli, Tommaso di Bartolomeo, Juan Barboti, Matteo Canali, Leonard Krumov, Alessandro Ortombina, Samuele Locatelli, Davide Ruggeri.

Replacements: Francisco Minervino, Federico Pisani, Filippo Alongi, Giacomo Ferrari, Bautista Stavile Bravin, Patricio Baronio Gauna, Marco Zanon, Tommaso Allan.

Edinburgh: Piers O’Conor, Malelili Satala, Matt Currie, Moses Tuipulotu, Geordie Gwynn, James Grayson, Hector Patterson; Pierre Schoeman, Ewan Ashman, Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, Callum Hunder-Hill, Glen Young, Liam McConnell, Freddy Douglas, Magnus Bradbury.

Replacements: Harri Morris, Jamie Stewart, Paul Hill, Marshall Sykes, Tom Currie, Conor McAlpine, Cammy Scott, Rory McHaffie.