Aviva Premiership

Bristol 16 Leicester Tigers 21

BRISTOL secured their second Aviva Premiership bonus point in successive weeks as they went down to their ninth league defeat in a row against Leicester Tigers at Ashton Gate.

However, Bristol showed signs of encourgement at various times during the match under the guidance of acting head coach Mark Tainton, taking charge of his first Premierrship game at Ashton Gate.

And they have another massive match next weekend when they tackle Gloucester at Kingsholm.

They survived an early scare when ex-Gloucester fly-half Freddie Burns missed a sitter in front of the home posts before scrum-half Rhodri Williams caught the Tigers' defence nappiing on halfway and made a sensational burst towards the line.

He nearly made it as well only to be pulled down five metres short. However, after a few minutes of pressure, Bristol took the lead when Leicester infringed in front of their posts and fly-half Billy Searle send his penalty sailing through the posts.

It was going nicely as Bristol showed a lot more belief in attack, building on the solid dsiplay in losing at Bath the previous week.

But silly mistakes cost them when they gave the Tigers a penalty directly in front of the posts for Burns to level the scores before the Tigers stand-off sank a booming forty metre penalty to put his side into the lead.

Two Bristol players missed a tackle in the latter stages of the half which lead to Leicester pressure deep in the home 22. Fortunately, nothing came of that but three minutes before the break, Leicester scored the first try of the night.

A cross-kick from Burns to the right side saw wing Adam Thompstone leap high and take a good catch. Nobody was near him as he raced twenty metres into the Bristol corner for the touchdown that Burns failed to convert.

And it did not help Bristol that lock Ian Evans was sent to the sin-bin just before half-tiime after persistent infringements. Nevertheless, it was a decent half by Bristol even though they were 11-6 behind.

But, after Evans returned, Bristol were struck by two big blows. First, their former prop Ellis Genge drove over from five metres to score under the posts, converted easily by Burns, to make it 18-6.

Then, moments later, centre Jason Woodward was sent to the bin when he upended Tigers lock Graham Kitchener from the re-start.

Burns added another penalty on 53 minutes and suddenly, at 21-6, it was looking like another defeat for the home side.

But just when it looked all over, a sin-bin for Leicester replacement Lachlan McCaffrey and some power up front saw Bristol replacement hooker Rob Hawkins power over from a metre to get back close to losing bonus point territory.

Leicester hit back with some sustained pressure but the home defence held firm as the last ten miinutes approached.

And, with three minutes left, repalcement Adrian Jarvis landed a 35 metre penalty to put his side within five of the Tigers but they could not get near the Leicester line in the dying minutes as yet Bristol suffered yet another defeat.