Rampant Leicester Tigers ran in nine tries and dished out a Heineken Cup lesson to Italian minnows Treviso.

Winger Johne Murphy scored a hat-trick in the last 25 minutes and there were two apiece for Jordan Crane and Toby Flood. A penalty try and one for Geordan Murphy completed the scoring.

Heyneke Meyer's visitors scored 43 unanswered points after a Ben de Jager try for the hosts had pulled them back to 17-16 nine minutes into the second half.

It was one-way traffic from then on and with the likes of Seru Rabeni coming off the bench to great effect, Leicester put on a tremendous show for their travelling fans.

It was the unfancied home side who settled better early on, however, enjoying good possession in the opening 10 minutes.

Leicester's fearsome pack began to take a grip of the game though and, as gaps started to appear in the Treviso defence, Harry Ellis' surge towards the line was ended with a knock-on.

Johne Murphy then went close before Tigers took a 14th-minute lead. The Irishman picked up quick ball from a ruck and he fed Toby Flood whose momentum took him over the line.

Tigers' dominance up front led to them turning down a simple three points two minute later in favour of a scrum. Crane picked up the ball at the back of the pack and surged over, Flood's missed conversion kept it to 12-0.

With former Wasps star Fraser Waters in their back line, Treviso looked dangerous if they could secure any ball and only a last-ditch tackle from Flood denied full-back Brendan Williams after a scintillating run from halfway.

Andrea Marcato got the Italians' opening points on the board on 28 minutes with his boot before Tigers stretched their lead to 17-3 with Flood's second try of the game wide on the right in the 35th minute.

That should have been the end of the game but it only served to spark a gutsy Treviso comeback either side of half-time which delighted the Stadio Comunale di Monigo.

A couple of Marcato kicks were followed by a stunning try for the hosts as skipper De Jager caught Marius Goosen's long kick down field and dived over. Marcato's touchline conversion pulled the hosts back to 17-16.

With the sniff of an upset in the air, Tigers turned on the style and killed the game dead with a spell of 22 points in 13 minutes.

A Flood penalty calmed the nerves on 52 minutes and the bonus point was secured on 55 minutes as Aaron Mauger broke free and fed Johne Murphy with a long-range try-scoring pass.

Two minutes later, namesake Geordan finished well after more good work from Mauger before a collapsed scrum and a Flood conversion on 62 minutes gave Tigers a 39-16 lead.

Leicester really opened the floodgates in the closing stages and further scores from Crane and two more from Johne Murphy - all converted by substitute Derick Hougaard - completed the rout.