Premiership: Leicester Tigers 46-24 Bristol Bears - Julian Montoya stars as 2022 champions win again

Harry Thacker's early try against his former club was his 15th in all competitions for Bristol Bears this season

Leicester Tigers strengthened their grip on a top four place with a thrilling bonus-point win over fellow play-off hopefuls Bristol Bears.

Bears led through Harry Thacker on the counter-attack, but a Ben Youngs score and Anthony Watson's try from Handre Pollard's kick made it 15-10.

Gabriel Ibitoye raced then through to put the visitors ahead after the break.

But Tigers responded in style, with two Julian Montoya scores and Pollard and Charlie Clare tries ensuring victory.

A free-scoring finale rounded off an intriguing contest, with Bears also crossing through a classy finish by Harry Randall before Tigers ran away with the game late on to move to within three points of second-placed Sale thanks to a fifth consecutive win.

• Premiership table

• Shared Tigers captaincy a team effort - Montoya

Bears, who themselves had won four on the bounce before travelling to Welford Road, remain in the mix for a top-four spot, but stay seventh with only three games remaining.

They were well in the hunt for a vital victory against a Tigers side inspired by South African fly-half Pollard and led superbly by Montoya, but could not contain their ruthless hosts in the latter stages.

An error-strewn first-half had resulted in neither side exerting any sort of dominance in the teeming rain.

The stop-start nature meant Bristol were rarely able to show the attacking fluidity which had brought them more than 50 points in their two previous outings.

Tigers, with Youngs at his sniping best, eventually settled better to edge ahead at the interval and, despite Ibitoye latching onto a charged-down kick to put Bears ahead at 17-15 after Magnus Bradbury had a try ruled out for a double movement that was the last time they were in front.

Two typical Montoya scores, the first when he bundled over off the back of a maul following an impressive lineout drive and the second taking his tally to nine tries in 12 games, seemed to break Bristol's resolve.

The second of those tries came after a yellow card for Bristol flanker Steven Luatua, a decision which hugely influenced the outcome.

The impeccable Pollard dived onto his own kick through and then added the conversion to further stretch the lead.

And Clare added a sixth try when he powered over from close range after Randall's thrilling score had given Bears a glimmer of hope.

Tigers head coach Richard Wigglesworth told BBC Radio Leicester:

"It's [a] big [result], when you get the points on the board it almost feels like a bit more because of how congested it is.

"Handre Pollard has got a brilliant rugby brain, he's got an intensity about him that when he speaks, you listen and he's everything you'd expect from a world-class 10.

"We hade a few issues in contact areas and the players sorted them out second half - we found an advantage with all their injuries and pressed that home.

"I'm really impressed with the decision-making and how they are going about their business on the field."

Bears director of rugby Pat Lam told BBC Radio Bristol:

"We prided ourselves in the last three, four weeks on building pressure and keeping the ball but were really loose.

"We gave Leicester 10 scrum put-ins in the first half, that's a lot, but at 15-10 we were right in the game and started really well in the second half.

"Eight penalties [given away] in 20 minutes, there's where the game got blown out.

"We were chasing the game at the end and took a few hits with injuries. I'm proud of the boys but we feel we made it more difficult for ourselves than it should have been."

Leicester: Brown; Watson, Scott, Gopperth, Potter; Pollard, Youngs; West, Montoya (capt), Heyes, Martin, Henderson, Libenberg, Cracknell, Wiese.

Replacements: Clare, Cornin, Cole, Snyman, Reffell, van Poortvliet, Atkinson, Steward.

Bristol: Piutau; Lloyd, Radradra, Williams, Ibitoye; MacGinty, Randall (co-capt); Thomas, Thacker, Lahiff, Bradbury, Vui, Luatua (co-capt), Lewis, Harding.

Replacements: Davis, Genge, Kloska, Heenan, Thomas, Uren, Bedlow, Heward.

Referee:

• Subscribe to the Rugby Union Weekly podcast

• Add rugby union alerts to your BBC Sport app