Five try scorers helped to bring five competition points back for Leicester Tigers from Bristol on Easter Sunday.
In front of more than 15,000 fans at Ashton Gate Stadium, Tigers secured a bonus-point, 19-36, away win to move into second place on the Gallagher Premiership table with only four rounds remaining in the 24/25 campaign.
It took just three minutes before the first try of the game, when Adam Radwan got across the chalk for the Tigers opener.
The opportunity for the Leicester wing came after a Jack van Poortvliet break deep inside the Bristol half and after being taken down yards from the line, the scrum-half popped the ball off the floor to the speedster in support.
Handré Pollard, who ended the game with 4/5 from the kicking tee, missed his first for the afternoon from out wide to mean it was only a five-point lead.
The lead only last six minutes after the Bears levelled it up at 5-5 in the tenth, thanks to the freakish skills of Kalaveti Ravouvou who produced a brilliant pass from the floor for Gabriel Ibitoye out wide to run it in untouched.
AJ MacGinty was unable to add to the tally with his sideline attempt going wide.
Both sides were willing to try their hand in the sunny, warm conditions in attack and defence, which helped Tigers register their second after a loose pass from Bristol near halfway was swooped upon by OIlie Hassell-Collins.
The Leicester wing ran it in and dotted the ball down under the posts, which meant Pollard had no trouble adding the extras to take back the lead for Tigers, which remained in their favour for the rest of the game.
A dominant driving maul helped set up van Poortvliet in the 24th minute for the visitor’s third and Pollard converted, before he added a penalty-goal late in the first-half to see his side lead by 17 points, 5-22, at the break.
Joe Heyes was shown a yellow card shortly before the break which meant Leicester were down to 14 for the opening eight minutes of the second-half and had to manage the side when it came to scrum time, seeing Olly Cracknell subbed for Will Hurd to cover the front-row.
Ravouvou crossed just five minutes into the second-half and MacGinty converted to cut the deficit to 12 points, which it stayed as until the hour mark when Freddie Steward sliced through to get the bonus-point score for Tigers.
Pollard was on target from the tee to extend the lead out to 17 points, with just over 15 minutes remaining, but Harry Randall crossed soon after and MacGinty added the extras to cut it back to ten points with just over ten minutes to go.
However, despite Leicester receiving a second yellow card for the match, this time for Solomone Kata, and the best efforts of the home side to get themselves back into the game, the Tigers defence held strong.
Kata returned with only minutes left on the clock and with the clock in the red, any chance of a losing bonus-point for Bristol was put to bed with the Leicester pack pushing their way over and Cameron Henderson scoring the fifth and final Tigers try.
Jamie Shillcock, who replaced Pollard in the dying stages, added the two points to make the final score 19-36.
More than 23,000 tickets have been sold for next Saturday's Gallagher Premiership fixture at Mattioli Woods Welford Road which doubles as this season's JTC Takeover Day.
Spaces at the crucial clash with Harlequins are filling up fast. Make The Obvious Choice and get your ticket sorted now before it's too late.
