England captain Martin Johnson was sin-binned on his landmark 300th appearance
for Leicester but the Tigers overpowered Bristol to move into third place in the
Zurich Premiership.
Johnson was ejected from the pitch in the 31st minute for a professional foul
and now faces a one-match ban for accumulating three yellows in 12 months.
His brief absence however could not prevent Leicester from ending their losing
streak against Bristol as the outgunned Shoguns failed to make it four wins in a
row against the English champions.
Ireland full-back Geordan Murphy caught the eye with an outstanding display
and fully deserved his two-try haul.
Josh Kronfeld, Ollie Smith, Rod Kafer and Steve Booth all touched down for the
Tigers in the second half as Bristol's challenge visibly wilted.
Two penalties from Felipe Contepomi was all the Shoguns could muster in reply
and their position at the foot of the Premiership is now looking increasingly
precarious.
Bristol started strongly however, pouring forward from the kick-off and using
their pack to secure a promising field position.
With acres of space out on the right the ball was quickly fed to Paul
Johnstone but the Zimbabwean hooker was bundled into touch inches short of the
line.
Leicester had weathered the early storm and they launched a raid of their own,
creating enough space for full-back Murphy to ghost through for a try under the
post.
He slotted the conversion and to add to the Shoguns' problems former All-Black
centre Daryl Gibson limped off in the 17th minute with Lee Best coming on to
replace him.
Referee Robin Goodliffe gave both front rows a talking to shortly after
following a series of scrappy scrums and when this failed to solve the problem
the Tigers were penalised.
Gibson had returned to the field by now but could only watch in frustration as
his side were repeatedly shoved backwards in the scrum, once off their own
ball.
Leicester were then reduced to 14 men when Johnson was caught tugging at
Michael Lipman's shirt when he did not have the ball and Goodliffe did not
hesitate to show him a yellow card.
The Tigers are a dangerous side when a man down and so it proved once again as
they swept deep into Shogun territory.
The ball was quickly recycled left to centre Leon Lloyd and he slipped a
perfectly-delayed pass to Murphy who skipped through for his second try.
Murphy landed the conversion but Contepomi completed the first-half scoring
with two quick-fire injury-time penalties.
Contepomi's points flurry failed to dent Leicester's ambition as the home side
extended their lead eight minutes after the interval when a powerful forward
drive saw Kronfeld driven over.
Bristol were struggling to lay their hands on the ball now as the Tigers
tightened their grip on the match, using their pack to good effect.
Smith's touchdown saw Leicester secure try-scoring bonus points and Kafer
crossed two minutes later to push his side further ahead.
Substitute Tim Stimpson bagged both conversions and Booth then rounded off a
fine afternoon for the Tigers with an injury-time try.
Teams
Leicester: Murphy, Lloyd, Smith, Kafer, Tuilagi, Vesty,
J. Hamilton, Rowntree, West, Tournaire, M. Johnson, Deacon,
Moody, Kronfeld, Corry.
Replacements: Chuter, Balding, Garforth, Stimpson, Booth, Tierney,
Back.
Tries: Murphy 2, Kronfeld, Smith, Kafer, Booth.
Cons: Murphy 2, Stimpson 3.
Bristol: Williams, Rees, Shaw, Gibson, Christophers, Contepomi,
Pichot, Sheridan, Johnstone, Crompton, S. Morgan, A. Brown,
Salter, Lipman, Beattie.
Replacements: E. Bergamaschi, Nelson, Oakley, C. Morgan, Best,
Richards, Drahm.
Pens: Contepomi 2.
Att: 16,800
Ref: Rob Goodliffe (RFU).
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