Leicester hammered out an ominous warning to the rest of their Premiership
title rivals with their five-try destruction of Leeds Tykes.
The Tigers might have slipped up on the opening day of the season at Sale, but
they were straight back into a formidable old routine at Welford Road.
Old being the operative word. Veteran former England stars Neil Back and
Martin Johnson led the way in a pack that squeezed the life out of the
visitors.
Johnson claimed a rare try, with debutant Seru Rabeni, Harry Ellis and Henry
Tuilagi also touching down. They were awarded a penalty try in the second half
and Andy Goode added 17 points with an assured kicking display.
All Leeds could manage was an opportunist score from wing Tom Biggs, a
last-minute consolation from Jon Dunbar and 10 points from the boot of Gordon
Ross.
The Tigers made some adjustments to their side after their disappointing
defeat at Sale. Ollie Smith replaced the injured Leon Lloyd in midfield,
player-coach Back returned at open-side and Louis Deacon took over from Ben Kay
in the second row.
World Cup winner Kay - dropped by England this summer - did not even make it
onto the bench with Leicester opting for an extra back.
Leeds were also searching for their first win after being beaten at Kingsholm
and lined up with a new half-back combination of Alan Dickens and Gordon Ross
put together in the wake of the poor performance against Gloucester.
Dickens and Ross, though, saw little of the ball in the first half as
Leicester established total control up front.
Johnson and Co dominated at scrum and line-out, with Back outstanding and
playing more like a teenager than a 35-year-old on the international scrapheap.
Andy Goode gave them the perfect start by opening the scoring from five metres
inside his own half after two minutes and was successful with a simple
27th-minute effort as well as converting both first-half tries.
Johnson led from the front with the first, barging through a tackle in the
12th minute after a sustained drive into the right-hand corner by the Leicester
pack.
Winger Rabeni was perfectly placed to grab a try on his debut just before the
interval after the dangerous Geordan Murphy's break shredded the centre of the
Leeds defence.
All Leeds had to show for their efforts were a Ross penalty in first-half
injury time and a share of the spoils in an early punch-up between the front
rows.
They did scramble back into the game when rookie wing Biggs scored a superb
opportunist effort three minutes into the second half.
Leicester were caught short at the back on the attack and Ross's clearance
bounced away from Murphy with Biggs - making only his second Premiership start -
hacking on and regathering on the line to score.
Ross converted but normal service was resumed soon after when Goode added a
third penalty to make the score 23-10.
And hopes of a revival for Leeds faded when referee Wayne Barnes sent lock
Chris Murphy to the sin-bin in the 53rd minute.
Ellis scored from the scrum that followed and Goode's conversion put the
Tigers in the clear.
Leeds were doomed in the 57th minute when they conceded a penalty try
converted by Goode for pulling down a driving maul on their own line.
Ross replied with another penalty for Leeds but replacement Tuilagi slid into
the right-hand corner for Leicester's fifth try.
It took Leeds until the fifth minute of injury time for replacement flanker
Dunbar to touch down a consolation effort as Leicester gave all their
replacements a run-out.
Teams:
Leicester: Murphy, Rabeni, Smith, Gibson, Healey, Goode, Ellis,
Rowntree, Chuter, White, M. Johnson, L. Deacon, B. Deacon,
Back, Corry.
Replacements: A. Tuilagi for Smith (54),
Broadfoot for Goode (74), Morris for Rowntree (61),
Buckland for Chuter (74), H. Tuilagi for B. Deacon (61).
Not Used: Skinner, Bemand.
Tries: M. Johnson, Rabeni, Ellis, Penalty,
H. Tuilagi.
Cons: Goode 4.
Pens: Goode 3.
Leeds: Cardey, Rees, Bell, Snyman, Biggs, Ross, Dickens,
Cusack, Regan, Kerr, Murphy, Palmer, Uys, Parks, Popham.
Replacements: Albanese for Biggs (64),
McMillan for Dickens (72), Dunbar for Uys (65).
Not Used: Holt, Rawlinson, Morgan, Christophers.
Tries: Biggs, Dunbar.
Cons: Ross 2.
Pens: Ross 2.
Sin Bin: Murphy (52).
Att: 16,533
Ref: Wayne Barnes (Twickenham).
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