Handré Pollard admits Bristol Bears gave he and his Leicester Tigers teammates a scare in the Gallagher Premiership meeting between the sides at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.

Speaking after the 46-24 win, in which he scored 19 points, Pollard said: “At times, not for the full 80 minutes, they gave us a scare. Especially with the wind at their backs.”

“Bristol is a quality side with the guys they have in the backline, so at times we were good and at times we weren’t as accurate as we would like to be.

“But, I think in general, it was a good performance.”

The Tigers fly-half was also quick to praise the effort of the Leicester pack for their efforts in helping open up the game for he and his fellow backs.

“Our set piece definitely came to the party; we got our maul going really well,” he said.

“The forwards put in a lot of work and really got us moving today, I thought they were brilliant.”

On his own performance, Pollard believes things are improving and put his recent string of dominant displays down to being happy in the East Midlands after a tough period in the game.

“I’m getting there,” Pollard said.

“It has been a tough four years, very stop start with injuries and France and everything.

“But it just feels nice to play consistently again, get the rhythm and to play at this place, with this team.

“I’m enjoying it so much. I haven’t enjoyed playing rugby like this in a very long time, it’s really fun. So, yeah, getting there but still stuff to work on for me.”