Fly-half Felipe Contepomi inspired Bristol to inflict a rare home defeat on defending champions Leicester in the Zurich Championship quarter-finals.

The Tigers have not lost a home league game since December 1997, when they were beaten by a Newcastle side featuring Dean Ryan.

Ryan returned as coach of Bristol on Saturday and saw his side pull off a rare repeat against a weakened Leicester side missing Martin Johnson, Neil Back and Tim Stimpson.

A pre-match deluge threatened to reduce the game to a war of attrition but Contepomi defied the conditions to create the chances that won the game.

Besides his 12 points with the boot, the Argentine international crafted all three Bristol tries as the West countrymen built a 24-6 lead by half-time.

Contepomi first created room to send wing David Rees jinking through to the line on the scissors.

Then he broke the Tigers' defensive line to make space for Lee Best to free Jamie Williams, who squeezed in on the right.

 Photo file: Watch the action

And deep into first-half injury time, he side-stepped his way through the attempted tackles of Austin Healey and Andy Goode before slipping a scoring pass to openside flanker Mike Lipman.

For Leicester, though, little went right.

A flu bug ruled out captain Johnson and inspirational flanker Back, while an ankle problem sidelined Stimpson.

They lost wing Leon Lloyd with a neck injury after just seven minutes.

And a Tigers defence that had conceded just 19 league tries all season failed to keep tabs on Contepomi when the stand-off was as slippery as the pitch.

When referee Chris White twice denied them tries soon after the hour, the home crowd began to sense the game was up.

Leicester chief Dean Richards appeared to feel the same as he began withdrawing his key men ahead of next Saturday's Heineken Cup final against Munster.

Andy Goode darted over in injury time to set Bristol nerves jangling but the Shoguns' remained on course for the final and a European Cup place next season.

 Gloucester overwhelm Newcastle

Leicester: Billig; Lloyd, Smith, Kafer, Tuilagi; Goode, Healey; Rowntree, West, Nebbett, Deacon, Kay, Moody, Kronfeld, Corry.
Replacements: Cockerill, W Johnson, Freshwater, Short, Hamilton, Gelderbloom, Naylor.

Bristol: Best; Rees, Williams, Little, Christophers; Contepomi, Pichot; Crompton, McCarthy, E Bergamaschi, Sturnham, A Brown, Short, Lipman, Brownrigg.
Replacements: Roland, Payne, Oakley, C Morgan, Blake, Carrington, Heyward.

Referee: Chris White (RFU)