The Prem
Bristol (7) 16
Tries: Rees-Zammit Cons: Williams Pens: Williams 3
Leicester (12) 22
Tries: Steward, Radwan, Hassell-Collins, Blamire Cons: Searle
Leicester took maximum points to go top of the Prem ahead of the rest of the weekend fixtures with a 22-16 win away at Bristol.
Tries from Freddie Steward and Adam Radwan put Tigers in the driving seat after a sublime score from Louis Rees-Zammit had given Bristol an early lead.
Ollie Hassell-Collins extended Leicester’s advantage to 17-7 after the break and while James Williams’ two penalties closed the gap, Jamie Blamire drove over for the visitors’ fourth to all-but seal victory.
But with Billy Searle missing three conversions, Leicester were not as far clear as they could have been and a third penalty from Williams closed the gap to six points to give Bristol hope in the final minutes.
Yet the hosts had to settle for a single losing bonus point as the Tigers did enough to see out the match and leapfrog Gloucester at the summit, with the Cherry and Whites set to play Northampton on Saturday (17:30 GMT).
Both sides came into the game evenly matched with three wins apiece ahead of the autumn international break, and it was the hosts who struck first through a world-class Rees-Zammit try.
The Welsh wing side-stepped his way free and then skipped out of a tackle to run clear and dive under the posts for his fifth Prem try of the season.
Leicester responded, stealing possession to attack on the counter and Searle neatly kicked the ball out wide, where Tigers had numbers, for Steward to score in the corner on his 100th Prem start.
There were chances for more tries at either end as Fitz Harding was held up over the line for Bristol, while the excellent Ollie Chessum got the ball down for Leicester, but it was chalked off for a knock-on beforehand.
Rees-Zammit came inches from doubling his tally as he shrugged his way out of a tackle and chased down his own chip, only for Tom Whiteley to expertly deny him.
But the momentum shift came just after the half-hour mark when Bristol indiscipline saw them down to 13 thanks to two high tackles in three minutes, with Matias Moroni and Tom Jordan sent to the bin.
With space open everywhere Tigers capitalised and Radwan sprinted sublimely from nowhere to dot down a kick that caught Bristol napping.
After spilling a catch before half-time that would have seen him score, Hassell-Collins got his try the other side of the break, this time easily collecting Searle’s crossfield kick in acres of space to stretch the lead to 17-7.
Williams’ penalty narrowed the gap and his second eventually brought Bristol within four points with 20 minutes to go.
But Leicester struck again to add the bonus point score as Blamire walked over at the back of a driving maul.
Still, three missed conversions meant Leicester were not yet home and dry and Williams’ third penalty with seven minutes to go set up a tense finale, but Leicester held firm to end the first block of Prem games on a high.
Bristol: Jordan; Rees-Zammit. Moroni, Williams, Ibitoye; MacGinty, Randall; Genge, Oghre, Kloska; Rubiolo, Batley, Luatua, Harding (c), Ivanishvili.
Replacements: Gwilliam, Woolmore, Chawatama, Caulfield, Owen, Marmion, Bates, Grondona.
Sin bin: Moroni (31), Jordan (34)
Leicester: Steward; Radwan, Kata, Bailey, Hassell-Collins; Searle, Whiteley; Van der Flier; Blamire, Heyes; Henderson, Chessum (c), Wainwright, Carnduff, Cracknell.
Replacements: Moli, Vunipola, Hurd, Stooke, Moro, Van Poortvliet, Wand, Hamer-Webb.
Referee: Luke Pearce
