Andy Goode emphasised how close he is to winning a place on the Lions' tour with a commanding display in Leicester's destruction of title rivals Sale.

The fly-half's form this season earned him his first two England caps in the RBS 6 Nations championship and he is likely to be in Sir Clive Woodward's thoughts as he prepares to name his 44-man squad on Monday.

Goode's tactical kicking and all-round play drove Sale inexorably backwards at Welford Road. He scored a try of his own, then created another for Alesana Tuilagi with a sharp break and was in red-hot form shooting at goal with seven conversions and a drop goal.

Lewis Moody, Leon Lloyd, Martin Johnson and Tom Varndell also touched down for Leicester as the Premiership leaders took control either side of half-time with an irresistible mix of forward power and sharp handling.

Sale wing Mark Cueto has already booked his plane ticket to Auckland and the England wing demonstrated his finishing ability with a try in each half.

Mike Hercus, standing in for the injured Charlie Hodgson, added a conversion and penalty, but Sale struggled to make much of an impact on the game with their back row bottled up by the likes of Moody and Martin Corry.

The Sharks' season started to unravel during the Six Nations and this defeat - their fourth in a row in the league - means they are in danger on missing out on the end-of-season play-offs as Bath and Saracens come up hard on the rails.

They led for the first 25 minutes, though, thanks to Cueto shrugging off some limp tackles wide on the right and jetting past his probable Lions team-mate Geordan Murphy to the line with Hercus converting.

The American added a penalty and Goode replied with a 15th minute drop-goal before Leicester struck with four tries in 16 minutes before the break.

Moody emerged from the bottom of the pile after one line-out drive, then the flanker created Leicester's second when he scooped up a loose long throw from Andy Titterrell and the ball was whipped away for Lloyd to cruise into the corner.

Another self-inflicted wound followed when scrum-half Bryan Redpath hesitated behind another scrappy line-out and his pass was intercepted by Goode who accelerated away on a 50-metre run to the line.

Martin Johnson secured the bonus point before the break when he barged round the side of a ruck from another line-out drive and Goode's fourth conversion gave his side an unassailable 31-10 lead at the break.

They kept Sale at arm's length after that, with Tuilagi scoring a superbly-constructed try after Goode ducked past Hercus and linked up with Lloyd and Murphy.

Cueto added a second - his eighth Premiership score of the season - when he outflanked some static defenders on the right.

Varndell replied on the hour, though, when a series of dynamic breaks saw Corry and Moody link up on the left with Gibson to put the winger into the corner with Goode converting to complete an unblemished afternoon's goal-kicking.

The momentum drained out of the game after that in a shapeless final quarter with Leicester prop Graham Rowntree and Sale lock Chris Jones both sin-binned by referee David Rose.

That would not have bothered Goode unduly, though. He is reaching for new heights as Sale contemplate a costly tumble down the table.