Leicester boosted their chances of an Aviva Premiership play-off spot with a bonus point 30-3 win at home to Newcastle.
Match stats: Leicester 30-3 Newcastle
Leicester tries: Genge (40, 56), Veainu (48), Youngs (72)
Conversions: Burns (48, 56)
Penalties: Burns (5, 36)
Newcastle penalties: Hodgson (25)
Match report
New Leicester head coach Matt O'Connor made a winning start to his second spell Welford Road as the Tigers boosted their chances of an Aviva Premiership play-off spot with a bonus point win at home to Newcastle.
The Australian, who helped Leicester win three Premiership titles between 2008 and 2013, saw his fourth-placed side win 30-3, scoring four tries through Ellis Genge (two), Telusa Veainu, and Ben Youngs with Freddie Burns kicking 10 points.
Newcastle scored one penalty through Joel Hodgson.
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Leicester were forced to make an 11th hour change after number eight Luke Hamilton injured an ankle in training.
Brendon O'Connor moved into his place on the back row with reserve hooker Harry Thacker taking over on the openside flank, while George McGuigan replaced captain and hooker Tom Youngs who dropped to the bench.
Joel Hodgson replaced Newcastle fly-half Mike Delany, who broke a thumb in the win against Gloucester, while Sinoti Sinoti came in on the wing with Marcus Watson switching to full back.
Leicester spent most of the first period camped in the Newcastle half but created little until the last seconds when they scored a controversial try.
It came after they won against the head at a scrum in the Falcons' 22 and, after intense forward pressure, prop Ellis Genge was awarded a try by the TMO even through replays proved inconclusive.
Fly-half Burns missed the touchline conversion so Leicester left the field at the break with 11-3 lead. Burns kicked penalties in the fifth and 36th minutes, while opposite number Hodgson slotted one in the 25th minute.
Newcastle were bidding for their first win at Welford Road since 1997 when Dean Richards, their director of rugby, was in the Leicester side.
The ninth-placed Falcons did not look like breaking that barren run as they were forced to defend for long periods. They did, however, create one of the best chances of the half in the 30th minute when Hodgson sparked a break-out, but former Leicester winger Vereniki Goneva did not have the pace to beat the cover and he was tackled by scrum-half Ben Youngs.
The hill facing Newcastle had turned into a mountain five minutes after the restart when they were reduced to 14 men when prop David Wilson was sin-binned.
He paid the price for Newcastle having conceded five penalties in about four minutes, and from a scrum moments later Leicester scored their second try through full back Veainu, with Burns adding the extras.
Genge crashed over for his second in the 56th minute, which Burns converted to make it 25-3. It was followed by a huge fracas but after watching replays refereed Ian Tempest took no action.
Ben Youngs earned Leicester a bonus point with a brilliant 40-metre solo break from a quickly-taken penalty in the 72nd minute. Owen Williams missed the conversion.
Match reaction
Leicester head coach Matt O'Connor on Ben Youngs' Lions hopes: "Definitely. Why would you not pick him? He is as good as there is at nine in the world at the moment and the added responsibility of the captaincy worked in his favour. He is a world-class player and he delivers most weeks. I am happy he is playing really well for us."
On the Tigers' play-off hopes: "I think we have 25, 30, 40 per cent growth in us, so it will be interesting to see how we go in the next two games. If we look after the ball, four, five, six times better, you are talking about those numbers. We are good enough to beat anyone.
"It was tough. They were competitive and made it hard for us to get any continuity in the first half. The try on half-time and Ben Youngs' tackle on Goneva probably set us up for the win."
Newcastle director of rugby Dean Richards on the referees and his side's performance: "We looked at the refereeing quartet and we knew they would be influenced by the crowd. But if you don't get your set-piece right at Leicester - and it was woeful - you are not going to get parity.
"We never look at seventh place, we look at our performance and we were poor. Last week we were fine. We are inconsistent, which is most frustrating. When we are on song we play some really good rugby. The players are disappointed because we did not turn up on the day."
