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

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 in the closing stages to move to within three points of second-placed Sale thanks to a fifth consecutive win.

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 Tigers 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 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, seemed to break Bristol's resolve.

The impeccable Pollard dived onto his own kick and then added the conversion to further stretch the lead with Clare adding a sixth try 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: