Handre Pollard leads Leicester to impressive victory over Bristol

A Handre Pollard-inspired Leicester showed their title credentials with a statement 46-24 win over Bristol that moved them clear of the pack in the race for the semi-finals.

South African fly-half Pollard’s 19-point haul included a try as Tigers ran in six at Welford Road, with skipper Julian Montoya scoring a brace, along with finishes from Ben Youngs, Anthony Watson and replacement hooker Charlie Clare.

Bristol contributed plenty to the game, including tries from Harry Thacker, Gabriel Ibitoye and Harry Randall as well as seven points from the boot of AJ MacGinty and two from Ibitoye.

However, that could not prevent the West Country club’s four-match winning run coming to an end.

It was a former Tiger Thacker who gave Bristol the lead after eight minutes as he finished a fortuitous 50-metre attack

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.

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 20 metres and score under the posts.

Pollard levelled the scores before adding a penalty to push his side ahead.

And Pollard was at the centre of the action for Tigers’ second try as he launched a cross-field kick for England star Watson, who took it on the full, put in a stutter step to fool Charles Piutau and then burst over the line.

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, but Watson used his top gear to come back and pull off a recovery tackle on Magnus Bradbury, who was penalised for a double movement.

The visitors did not have to wait long, though, with Ibitoye touching down from a hacked kick through.

But a pair of maul tries finished by Tigers captain Montoya, either side of a yellow card for Bristol flanker Steven Luatua, changed the whole momentum of the game.

Pollard capped a virtuoso 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 Ioan Lloyd breaking down the wing before releasing Randall to finish the move. Ibitoye added the extras as the Bears looked to go quickly to chase a bonus-point score.

But it was Tigers 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.