Holly Phillips scored four tries as Bristol Bears underlined their top four credentials with a 43-29 bonus-point victory over Leicester Tigers at Ashton Gate in front of a 5,000 plus crowd.
The hooker was in scintillating form, crossing twice in each half, whilst there were further scores from Simi Pam, Millie David and Gabriella Nigrelli.
After Phillips’ opening try, Pam dotted down for the pick of the scores on six minutes when she charged half-the-length of the field to cross under the post for a converted score. The powerful prop supported a neat Bears move, getting on the end of Keira Bevan’s inside pass before sprinting to the line at breakneck speed.
Phillips scored her second of the afternoon and Bears third on 25 minutes, before top try-scorer David added a third on the half hour. Emily Henrich responded for Tigers on the stroke of half-time.
Brody touched down for the first of her two scores immediately from the restart to give Tigers something to build on in the second period, however, Phillips had other ideas as she crashed over for her hat-trick on 49 minutes. A line-out five metres out gave Phillips the opportunity to muscle her way to the line.
Undeterred by the raucous Ashton Gate crowd, Tigers rallied, and Brody bagged her second try to cut the gap to 31-19.
Bristol Head Coach Dave Ward rang the changes going into the last quarter of the contest, and this gave his side fresh momentum.
Phillips was clearly having fun in front of the 5,000 plus crowd, and on the hour, she registered her fourth try, finishing off a driving lineout, before Meg Jones darted in for a sublime solo try for Tigers.
Nigrelli got in on the act in the closing stages, finishing off a slick Bears attack, and despite a fifth Leicester try from Fray with the last play, the day belonged to the West Country outfit.
Bristol Bears: 15. Ella Lovibond, 14. Millie David, 13. Courtney Keight, 12. Meg Varley, 11. Ilona Maher, 10. Phoebe Murray, 9. Keira Bevan (c); 1. Simi Pam, 2. Holly Phillips, 3. Elliann Clarke, 4. Hollie Cunningham, 5. Delaney Burns, 6. Christiana Balogun, 7. Alisha Joyce-Butchers (vc), 8. Gabriella Nigrelli.
Replacements: 16. Lark Atkin-Davies, 17. Jess Sprague, 18. Sarah Bern, 19. Jenny Herring, 20. Rownita Marston-Mulhearn, 21. Ffion Lewis, 22. Jenny Hesketh, 23. Reneeqa Bonner.
