Leicester lose their home record

The Leicester public did not show up for the Zurich Championship and neither did their team as the Tigers lost their proud home record to a pumped-up Bristol.

Dean Ryan 's side deserved their 27- 13 victory, Leicester's first defeat at Welford Road against English opposition since 1997. Not only that, only 4,771 turned out - Leicester's smallest league crowd for 10 years.

With the notable exception of England flanker Lewis Moody, the Tigers seemed to have their sights already fixed on the Heineken Cup Final against Munster next Saturday.

Bristol took full advantage. Fuelled by a mighty pack, Argentina fly-half Felipe Contepomi defied the filthy conditions to cut the home defence to ribbons. He jinked and swerved through the puddles to conjure first-half tries for David Rees, Jamie Williams and Michael Lipman.