Tigers tear Scarlets apart

Leicester sounded out a Heineken Cup warning to the rest of Europe with a resounding 46-10 triumph over Scarlets at Welford Road.

The rampant Tigers scored 33 unanswered points in the second half to claim a comprehensive bonus-point victory that puts them top of Pool Five.

Flanker Tom Croft scored two of their six tries while his England team-mate, Toby Flood, marked his return to action by kicking 16 points

All this came after Scarlets - who had stunned Perpignan on the opening weekend of the new season - had taken the early lead through a Morgan Stoddart try.

Stunning move

Full-back Stoddart accepted Reegan King's inside ball to complete a stunning team move that had started way back inside their own half.

The 13th minute effort, which was converted by Stephen Jones, came with Leicester down to 14 men following the sin-binning of Alesana Tuilagi.

The winger was shown the yellow card by referee George Clancy after his knock-on denied Scarlets the chance to use an overlap on the left. The visitors had good cause to ask why they were not awarded a penalty try, too.

Leicester's response, though, was emphatic. While their rivals opted to run it, the home side simply used their powerful pack to bludgeon their way in front.

Prop Martin Castrogiovanni got a helping hand from team-mate George Skivington to get the ball over the line, the television official awarding the try after viewing replays, and the simple conversion from Flood levelled matters.

The number 10 knocked over two penalties before the break, the second of which came after another Scarlets infringement saw Clancy's patience snap, King being shown a yellow card for kicking the ball away whilst in an offside position.

Despite their numerical disadvantage, the visitors still went in at the break only three points adrift thanks to a penalty from Jones in the final minute. However, by the 52nd minute they had been blown away.

Youngs was the catalyst for the Tigers' onslaught, the number nine producing a dummy from the base of a ruck that bamboozled poor replacement prop Deacon Manu and opened up a gaping hole for an easy run-in.

Floodgates opened

The try - similar to the one Youngs managed in England's Test success over Australia during their summer tour Down Under - opened the floodgates.

The scorer turned provider when he took a quick tap penalty and then offloaded for the supporting Thomas Waldrom to rumble his way over.

Despite King returning to the field, Scarlets simply couldn't stem the bleeding. They gifted the Tigers an added bonus point by attempting to run from deep, a loose pass running kindly into the path of Geordan Murphy, who then offloaded to the galloping Croft to finish.

Flood added all three conversion attempts before Leicester had the luxury of withdrawing try-scorers Youngs and Castrogiovanni to standing ovations.

Croft also came off before the finish, though not before he had grabbed a straightforward second. It had all come about from a mammoth kick and chase by Tuilagi after the Scarlets had carelessly turned the ball over.

Matt Smith rounded out the scoring with four minutes to play by picking a pass off his boot laces and diving over the line for Leicester's sixth try.