Bristol come from behind to draw with Leicester

Bristol scored four tries to Leicester's three as the two sides drew at Ashton Gate

Bristol came from behind to secure a dramatic 26-26 draw with Leicester at Ashton Gate.

Bryan Byrne cut the deficit before Tigers had Francois van Wyk sent off.

Gabriel Ibitoye crossed to tie the score before Bristol's AJ MacGinty missed a penalty to win the game with the last kick of the match.

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The draw ends a run of six consecutive defeats in the Premiership for Bristol but means they remain at the bottom of the league table on points difference behind London Irish, while Leicester move up to fifth.

The Bears started on top with Radradra - making his first start since suffering a knee injury in April - taking only four minutes to score from close range, after Sam Lewis was stopped near the line.

Bristol's ill-discipline has been problematic all season though and they conceded six penalties in the first 20 minutes, allowing Freddie Burns to kick Leicester ahead with two penalties.

Still, Piutau followed Radradra over the try line after a stellar passage of play which included a quick off-load from Ellis Genge and a long pass over the top from Callum Sheedy to pick out Piutau.

But their lead was short-lived as Radradra was sent to the sin-bin for a high tackle on Burns and Leicester responded with three quick tries.

Kelly, similarly marking his return from a long-term injury, got the first, crossing just seconds after Radradra's departure.

Leicester then patiently moved through the phases before using their width, allowing Ashton - one of seven England internationals in Leicester's back line - to run over, and Montoya added their third try from a driving maul right on half-time.

Bristol missed the chance to score seconds after the restart when Dan Thomas charged down a kick, while Deago Bailey's feet were just in touch as he later dived over in the corner, before Byrne finally scored Bristol's third try from close range.

Van Wyk was shown a red card for a dangerous tackle on Genge in the build-up to the try and the man advantage swung the finale in Bristol's favour.

Genge pounced on a loose ball which helped unleash Ibitoye down the wing to level the score with five minutes on the clock, before MacGinty missed a match-winning penalty right at the death.

Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam told BBC Radio Bristol:

"Very proud of the boys, we started really well and then we just got for some reason on the wrong end of the penalty count - don't get me wrong, some of them were definitely penalties but 10-0, I don't think I've been in a game with a 10-0 penalty count.

"What that means is you're double banking on your work, suddenly they've got free entry into your half and you're defending.

"The yellow card, we conceded three tries, with some tremendous defence but penalty after penalty.

"After half-time we talked about it, we were down 11 points and we almost scored straight after half-time.

"But the boys' character to keep going and keep going, to then go four tries and have an opportunity to win it."

Bristol Bears: Piutau; Bailey, Radradra, O'Conor, Ibitoye;, Sheedy, Porter; Genge, Byrne, Lahiff, Batley, Vui, Luatua (c), Lewis, Heenan.

Replacements: Thacker, Woolmore, Tyack, Hawkins, Thomas, Uren, MacGinty, Jenkins.

Sin-bin: Radradra (28 mins)

Leicester Tigers: Steward; Ashton, Porter, Kelly, Watson; Burns, Youngs; Whitcombe, Montoya, Cole, Wells, Chessum, Liebenberg (c), Reffell, Wiese.

Replacements: Clare, Van Wyk, Heyes, Snyman, Martin, Van Poortvliet, Atkinson, Potter.

Red card: Van Wyk (64 mins)

Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys.