Bristol comeback ends Leicester play-off hopes

Leicester: (7) 19

Tries: Hassell-Collins (2), Van Wyk Cons: Pollard (2)

Bristol: (0) 21

Tries: Lahiff (2), Bradbury Cons: Williams, MacGinty (2)

Bristol pulled off an astonishing comeback from 19-0 down to kill off Leicester’s hopes of making the play-offs.

Wing Ollie Hassell-Collins scored two tries and Francois van Wyk powered over for another to put the Tigers in control and spark talk of a bonus-point win to get them back in the top-four mix.

Bristol had other ideas as Max Lahiff scored to give them a sniff and, after Leicester’s Mike Brown was sent off for a second yellow card offence, Lahiff added another.

With both sides seeking a win, Bristol broke clear and after concerted pressure on the Tigers line, Magnus Bradbury forced his way over and AJ MacGinty scored the winning conversion.

Victory leaves the Bears in the fourth play-off spot, level on points with fifth-placed Harlequins but only a point behind Bath and two behind second-placed Saracens, who they host in their next Premiership fixture before a final game at Quins.

Tigers knew they needed a win, and possibly a bonus point, to keep their season alive, but Bristol arrived at Welford Road after five straight wins, the latest an 85-14 thumping of Newcastle last week.

The visitors also suffered the blow of England full-back Max Malins dropping out beforehand, with Rich Lane stepping in.

Leicester piled on on the pressure and Gabriel Ibitoye paid the price for a series of penalty offences by spending 10 minutes in the sin-bin.

Tigers took advantage as Hassell-Collins went over in the corner to open the scoring.

Former England international Brown picked up his first yellow shortly afterwards for slapping the ball out of an opponent’s hand on the floor, with referee Matt Carley audibly describing the offence as “very cynical”.

Bristol thought they had taken advantage of that decision as Gabriel Oghre threw to Ellis Genge at the front of a line-out and received an instant return before ambling into the yawning gap left by Brown’s absence to touch down, only for the television match official to rule out the score for a forward pass.

Leicester increased their lead in the second half as Freddie Steward superbly set up Hassell-Collins for his second and then Van Wyk powered his way over to stretch the gap to 19 points.

But Bristol prop Lahiff made a huge impact off the bench, scoring twice either side of Brown's dismissal for making head contact in a tackle, and with James Williams and AJ MacGinty adding the extras the Bears were suddenly within a converted try of victory.

Leicester tried to close the game out but Bristol broke strongly and Bradbury’s try survived a TMO review before MacGinty added the vital extras.

Leicester coach Dan McKellar told BBC Radio Leicester:

“Ultimately the second card for Browny hurt us. At 19-7 up we were well in control of the game.

“I thought we were outstanding for 70-odd minutes and I can’t believe I’m sitting here as a losing coach.

“We need to reflect on the whole year. It’s another close loss at home, when you think of Sale, Harlequins. Gloucester, and now Bristol. You win those games and all of a sudden you’re sitting pretty in the top four.

“There are a lot of learnings to come out of this year and we’ll make sure we’re better for it.”

Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam told BBC Radio Bristol:

“We knew we were going to hit a purple patch. Credit to Leicester, they were desperate and that’s why this is so massive.

“It was their strongest team with 14 internationals and the one who isn’t is (Hanro) Liebenberg, and they watered the pitch as well. A lot of things went against us - we had nine penalties in the first half, most of them in the first 20 minutes.

“At half-time I said, ‘Boys we haven’t fired a shot’ but our defence was phenomenal.

“When we scored the try to get back into it, we just played like we do in training. The boys broke through and won the game.”

Leicester: Steward; Brown, Scott, Kelly, Hassell-Collins; Pollard, Van Poortvliet; Cronin, Montoya, Cole, Martin, Chessum, Liebenberg, Reffell, Wiese.

Replacements: Clare, Van Wyk, Hurd, Wells, Cracknell, Whiteley, Shillcock, Cokanasiga

Bristol: Lane; Naulago, Janse van Rensburg, Williams, Ibitoye; MacGinty, Randall; Genge, Oghre, Sinckler, Dun, Batley, Luatua, Harding, Bradbury

Replacements: Thacker, Woolmore, Lahiff, Caulfield, Heenan, Marmion, Vakatawa, O'Conor

Referee: Matthew Carley