Tigers scored five tries in the first half through Sam Vesty, Julian White, Dan Hipkiss, Jordan Crane and Geordan Murphy. Toby Flood, Geordan Murphy, Tom Varndell, Ben Woods, Johne Murphy and Ayoola Erinle were all on the scoresheet in the second period.

Tigers head coach Richard Cockerill included Lewis Moody, Flood and Matt Smith in his starting line-up as they made their returns from injury. Sam Vesty moved across to inside centre with Flood coming in at fly-half. He was partnered at half-back by Julien Dupuy while Boris Stankovich, Benjamin Kayser and White all started in the front row.

David Lemi, Shaun Perry and Dan Ward-Smith made their final appearances in a Bristol shirt, while Mark regan was named on the bench for his last game for the club.

Tigers put Bristol under immediate pressure when they overturned possession in the visitors' 22 from the kick-off. The ball was moved quickly to the right where Geordan Murphy slid a grubber kick through for Smith but the Tigers wing was beaten to the ball in the in-goal area by Lemi.

A tap-penalty by Jordan Crane laid the platform for Tigers to take the lead after six minutes. The ball was moved left where Vesty exploited a gap in the Bristol defence and forced his way past full-back Luke Arscott to score. Dupuy was wide to the right with his conversion.

Tigers scored a second try five minutes later through White, the prop’s first of the season. Flood, Hipkiss and Moody linked up in midfield to take play deep into the Bristol 22 before Dupuy, with echoes of his brilliant try at the Walkers Stadium against Bath two weeks ago, darted to within two metres of the line. White followed in to sweep up possession and complete the score under the posts. Dupuy’s conversion put Tigers 12-0 ahead.

Bristol put their points on the board after 16 minutes. Tigers were whistled for failing to roll away and Arscott knocked over the penalty from the right to leave Tigers 12-3 ahead.

With 14 minutes of the half remaining Tigers scored a wonderfully worked try through Dan Hipkiss. Dupuy, Flood and Vesty were at the heart of everything and they directed a series of phases to get within sight of line. They then interchanged again before Flood switched the ball inside for Hipkiss to scythe through and score behind the posts. Dupuy’s conversion extended Tigers’ lead to 19-3.

Crane added a fourth try and secured the bonus point five minutes later. Kayser and White drove Tigers to within sight of the line and Crane finished off their hard yards, sniping down the side of the ruck and stretching out to dot down. Dupuy completed the seven-point score.

With half-time approaching Tigers scored a fifth try of the half. Craig Newby showed good footwork to beat a couple of Bristol defenders on the right-hand touchline before offloading to Geordan Murphy, who had picked a clever line to run through unopposed. It was the Ireland international’s 85th try for Tigers on his 250th appearance for the club. Dupuy added the conversion to put Tigers 33-3 ahead at half-time.

Tigers added a sixth try of the game in the opening moments of the second half. England international Flood intercepted a loose Bristol pass and ran in under the posts from 30m for his seventh try of the season. Geordan Murphy had taken over kicking responsibilities and slotted the conversion.

The Tigers full-back then scored his second try of the afternoon when he raced through a static Bristol defence from almost 40m to score under the posts. He dusted himself off to knock over the conversion to put Tigers 47-3 ahead.

Tigers went further ahead with 13 minutes remaining when Johne Murphy collected a quick throw-in inside his own 22 and showed quick feet to dance his way into the Bristol half. He had the vision to see Varndell in space on the right and looped a pass out to england international, who raced in to score on the right. Vesty, Tigers’ third kicker of the afternoon, knocked over the conversion from near the touchline.

Ben Woods scored Tigers’ ninth try of the game moments after coming onto the pitch as a replacement. Tigers stole Bristol line-out ball 10m out and Woods darted down the side of the resulting maul to score with his first touch.

Johne Murphy added a tenth try with five minutes remaining, slaloming his way through a series of tackles to score under the posts. Vesty, who had missed his previous conversion, kicked the extras to put Tigers 66-3 ahead.

Replacements Marco Wentzel and Ayoola Erinle then combined in the final minute to score Tigers 11th try of the game. Wentzel made the hard yards, bursting through a couple of tackles and looked to have gone all the way before being dragged down. However, Erinle was on his shoulder to collect the South African's offload and score under the posts. Vesty added the conversion with the final kick of the game to give Tigers a 73-3 win.