Bristol Bears' winning run in the Gallagher Premiership was halted on Saturday by a Leicester Tigers side who looked like title contenders once again.
Handre Pollard inspired last season's champions to a statement 46-24 win at Welford to move away from the pack in the race for the playoffs and help secure their place in third, while Bristol will now need to win all three of their remaining games to have the faintest chance of joining them.
READ MORE: Leicester Tigers 46-24 Bristol Bears LIVE: Full reaction from defeat at Welford Road
Pollard ended with 19 points including a try as Tigers ran in six with skipper Julián Montoya scoring a brace, along with scores from Ben Youngs, Anthony Watson and replacement hooker Charlie Clare.
Bristol contributed plenty to the game, with tries from Harry Thacker, Gabriel Ibitoye and Harry Randall and seven points from the boot of AJ MacGinty, with Ibitoye converting one, but the West Country club’s four-match winning run came to a halt as a yellow card for co-captain Steven Luatua, combined with the strength of the hosts' bench saw the game get away from them.
The game lived up to the billing of a clash between the Premiership’s two form clubs, with Tigers success making it five wins on the bounce.
Bears director of rugby Pat Lam made two injured enforced changes to his starting side which beat Harlequins 51-26 last time out with Joe Joyce coming in for the injured Joe Batley and Ioan Lloyd starting on the wing in place of Siva Naulago, but the big news was the return of Ellis Genge from England duty to take a place on the bench against the club he captained to the Premiership title last season. However Joyce never made the game as he suffered an extended elbow in the warm-up, meaning Magnus Bradbury moved to lock, Sam Lewis was promoted from the bench to flanker and Dan Thomas joined the squad having been the travelling reserve.
In a sign of the significance of the game, Tigers head coach Richard Wigglesworth brought back Dan Cole, Jack van Poortvliet, Freddie Steward and Anthony Watson from England and Tommy Reffell from Wales to bolster his matchday squad following the conclusion of the Guinness Six Nations.
It was a former Tiger Thacker who gave Bristol the lead after eight minutes as he finished a fortuitous 50m attack which started as MacGinty bounced a pass off the turf to James Williams who broke deep into the Leicester half, drew the final defender and fed his dynamic hooker to finish with a dive. MacGinty converted.
Youngs hit back for the hosts as he turned back the clock to sell a dummy to the Bristol defence before zipping through a gap at the edge of a ruck to race in from 20m and score under the posts, with Pollard levelling the scores before adding a penalty to push his side ahead.
And Pollard was at the centre of the action for their second try as he launched a cross-field kick for England star Watson who took on the full, put in a stutter step to fool Charles Piutua and then burst over the line. Pollard’s conversion rebounded off the far upright.
In the closing moments, MacGinty narrowed the gap with a penalty in front of the posts to make it 15-10 to Tigers at the break.
Bristol thought they had scored a couple of minutes after the break after Magnus Bradbury touched down in the corner after Watson had come across to tackle him but slipped off the Scottish number eight to allow him to regain his feet and touch down, but referee Matthew Carley judged the tackle had been complete and penalised the forward for a double movement.
The Bears didn’t have to wait long for their score though, with Ibitoye touching down from a hacked kick-through from Williams.
But a pair of maul tries finished by Tigers captain Montoya, either side of a yellow card for Bristol flanker Steven Luatua, changed all the momentum of the game.
Pollard capped an inspired display with a wonderful solo try, regathering his own chip kick to touch down under the posts before converting.
Bristol hit back with a superb counter-attacking try from deep in their own half, with Lloyd breaking down the wing before releasing Randall to finish the move. Gabriel Ibitoye added the extras as the Bears looked to go quickly to chase a bonus point score.
But it was Leicester who scored the rest of the points in the match with Pollard adding a penalty before replacement hooker Clare powered over with the final play of the game, converted by Jimmy Gopperth.
Bristol now turn their attention to hosting Clermont on Friday night in the last 16 knockout rounds of the European Challenge Cup.
Leicester Tigers: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Matt Scott, 12 Jimmy Gopperth, 11 Harry Potter, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Ben Youngs; 1 Tom West, 2 Julián Montoya (c), 3 Joe Heyes, 4 George Martin, 5 Cameron Henderson, 6 Hanro Liebenberg, 7 Olly Cracknell, 8 Jasper Wiese
Replacements: 16 Charlie Clare, 17 James Cronin, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Eli Snyman, 20 Tommy Reffell, 21 Jack van Poortvliet, 22 Charlie Atkinson, 23 Freddie Steward
Bristol Bears: 15. Charles Piutau, 14. Ioan Lloyd, 13. Semi Radradra, 12. James Williams, 11. Gabriel Ibitoye, 10. AJ MacGinty, 9. Harry Randall (cc); 1. Yann Thomas, 2. Harry Thacker, 3. Max Lahiff, 4. Chris Vui, 5. Magnus Bradbury, 6. Steven Luatua (cc), 7. Sam Lewis, 8. Fitz Harding. Bradbury.
Replacements: 16. Fred Davies, 17. Ellis Genge, 18. George Kloska, 19. Jake Heenan, 20. Dan Thomas, 21. Andy Uren, 22. Sam Bedlow, 23. Noah Heward.
Referee: Matthew Carley (132nd Premiership game).
Assistant Referees: Hamish Smales and Peter Allan.
TMO: Stuart Terheege.
Citing Officer: Shaun Gallagher.
Attendance: 21,523
