Leicester kick-started the defence of their Zurich Premiership title with a rousing second-half show to condemn one of their nearest challengers to their heaviest defeat of the season.

England captain Martin Johnson provided the steadying influence on his return from a broken hand as the Tigers bounced back from their shock defeat at Leeds to open up an eight-point lead over Sale.

Both sides were missing seven players through Test calls and injuries - but it was an international discard, Geordan Murphy, who dominated the game with a hugely impressive two-try performance.

Murphy, dropped by Ireland for their match against the All Blacks, was handed the full-back role ahead of Tim Stimpson and made the most of his opportunity with a series of incisive breaks.

It was his try on the stroke of half-time which turned a finely-balanced match into something of a rout.

The scores were locked at 3-3 when Murphy took a perfectly-weighted pass from centre Leon Lloyd and shrugged off Apollo Perelini's attempted tackle to cross at the corner for the only try of the first half.

He then carved out a try for winger Steve Booth after regathering his own kick and sliced through for his second on 69 minutes to secure a bonus point for the table-toppers.

Fly-half Andy Goode scored the Tigers' other try to add to his seven goals from eight attempts, but there had been little to suggest this would have been a cakewalk after Sale dominated for long periods before the break.

Their only points came from a penalty by full-back Vaughan Going, who opened the scoring after 12 minutes. But they missed two clear-cut try-scoring opportunities after demonstrating their penchant for quickly turning defence into attack.

Leicester right wing Fereti Tuilagi denied his opposite number Steve Hanley after a blockbusting run from Mark Cueto had split the Tigers defence - and Sale scrum-half Alan Dickens had the misfortune to knock on with the line at his mercy after Goode had mis-kicked his attempted clearance.

Sale's handling let them down badly at crucial times, and their second-half collapse was a big disappointment for the crowd of 5,429 - the biggest at Heywood Road for four years.

Leicester had centre Rod Kafer sin-binned on 66 minutes for deliberating killing the ball in a ruck.

But it made little difference to the champions, who benefited immensely from the return from injury of Tuilagi and Lloyd - in addition to Johnson, who proved his fitness for next week's Twickenham clash with South Africa.