Prop Cole scored his first try for the club to give Tigers a 13th minute lead. However, the home side came back with tries through Luke Arscott and David Lemi to lead 14-7 at half-time.

Sam Vesty, who was on target with four of his five kicks at goal, chipped away at the Bristol lead with two second-half penalties before Hipkiss, on his return from injury, crossed to put Tigers ahead with 12 minutes remaining.

England international centre Hipkiss was making his return to the starting line-up after missing the last seven matches through injury. Matt Smith switched to the wing with New Zealand international Scott Hamilton moving to full-back in the absence of Geordan Murphy, who was on Six Nations duty with Ireland. In the forwards, Mefin Davies took over at hooker, Cole was alongside him at tighthead and Marco Wentzel came into the back row at blindside flanker.

Flanker Ben Herring returned to the matchday 22 after an eight-week injury absence after being named on the bench. Tom Varndell was also among the replacements on his return to club duty after playing at the IRB World Sevens in Dubai last weekend.

Hooker Mark Regan’s inclusion in the Bristol side saw him become only the fourth player to reach 200 Guinness Premiership appearances. Prop Alex Clarke made his first start since Christmas.

Bristol began the game on the front foot and were given their first chance to put points on the board after three minutes when Wentzel was ruled to have come in at the side of a ruck. Bristol fly-half Ed Barnes was off target with the penalty, pulling his kick from a central position to the left of the posts.

Tigers began to find their feet with Hipkiss punching holes in the Bristol defence with his first three runs. It was on the back of one of his breaks that Tigers opened the scoring. The ball was recycled through a series of phases before Dan Cole burst down the side of a ruck to run in unopposed from 22 yards and score his first try for Tigers. Dupuy's conversion gave Tigers a 7-0 lead after 14 minutes.

However, Bristol brought themselves level just four minutes later. Full-back Luke Arscott broke through a crowd of players before exchanging passes with Robert Sidoli to score to the right of the posts. Barnes added the extras.

Tigers came close to reclaiming the lead almost immediately. Hamilton joined the line to take Tigers into the Bristol 22 before feeding Tuilagi. The Samoan wing was tackled by Nathan Brew but could only find David Lemi with his offload with the line in sight.

A dazzling 40m break by Dupuy from the back of a ruck opened up another opportunity for Tigers but Tuilagi knocked-on the Frenchman’s pass 10m from the line with the home defence stretched.

Tigers fell behind with six minutes of the half remaining. Scrum-half Shaun Perry gathered Davies’ throw at the back of the line-out 30m from the Tigers line before the ball was spun to the opposite flank for Lemi to cross on the left. Barnes kicked the conversion to put Bristol 14-7 ahead going in at the break.

The second period began in scrappy fashion with Tigers twice knocking on in good attacking positions. Bristol’s Luke Arscott was also guilty of a knock-on while Lemi kicked out on the full as he tried to launch a counter-attack.

The half was 10 minutes old before Tigers mounted their first real attack of the half and they were rewarded with three points. Tigers put together a series of phases to take them into the Bristol 22 before Marcos Ayerza barreled his way to within 5m of the line and the penalty was awarded for Joe El Abd not rolling away. Vesty, who had taken over kicking duties from Dupuy, landed the penalty to reduce Bristol’s lead to 14-10.

The fly-half then brought Tigers to within a point of their hosts after 57 minutes with another penalty, this time from some 45m.

The second period was 25 minutes old before Bristol put together their first attack of the half. A break by Nathan Brew, supported by Robert Sidoli, took them into the Tigers 22 before the visitors were blown for not rolling away. Barnes’ penalty put Bristol 17-13 ahead.

But Tigers stormed into the lead through Hipkiss’s second try of the season two minutes later. Ben Youngs, who was on for Dupuy, took a quick penalty 40m out which opened up the Bristol defence and Hipkiss was on his shoulder to score. Vesty’s conversion from in front of the posts put Tigers 20-17 up.

Hamilton went close to giving Tigers some breathing space when he was on the end of a flowing backs move but the full-back knocked-on as he was tackled just short of the line.

Hipkiss then produced a huge hit on Nathan Brew and the Bristol centre was penalised for holding the ball. However, Vesty was short with a testing kick from around 50m.

The Leicester fly-half was given another penalty attempt with 60 seconds remaining for the Bristol forwards going off their feet, which he knocked over to put Tigers 23-17 up.

Tigers collected possession from the restart to run down the clock for a fourth win in a row that took them top on points difference from Gloucester.