Tigers tear through Worcester

Leicester bounced back to winning ways with a 42-16 win over Worcester at Welford Road.

Leicester bounced back to winning ways after last week's suprise loss to Newport-Gwent with a comfortable 42-16 win over Worcester in the Powergen Cup.

A much-changed Tigers side, which included Ben Kay and Martyn Corry, ran in five tries in the clash of two Guinness Premiership sides at Welford Road, but is far from plain sailing for the hosts.

Worcester, despite the absence of influential skipper Pat Sanderson, threatened an upset as they trailed by just four points at half-time, only to be blown away after the re-start as Leicester ran in 15 points in as many minutes.

After last week's shock 24-15 reverse against the Dragons, Leicester coach Pat Howard wielded the axe and the nine changes made to the starting line-up appeared to have the desired affect on his side as they started the match brightly. 

It took them just seven minutes to break the deadlock as George Chuter charged through a large gap in the visitors defence to score the opening try on a wet afternoon, Ian Humphreys - starting in place of Andy Goode - adding the conversion.

Shane Drahm got Worcester's first points of the afternoon with a penalty, but former Ulster fly-half Humphreys quickly responded with a successful penalty of his own and then and set up the Tigers' second try with a terrific up-and-under.

Full-back Jonny Hylton's failed to deal with the difficult high ball, allowing Leon Lloyd the chance to dribble the ball under the posts to score, Humphreys adding the easy conversion.

Drahm gave the away team some hope with his second penalty, only for Humphreys to quickly cancel that out by kicking three more points for his side with a penalty after Thomas Lombard was sin-binned for handling the ball while on the floor.

With a man extra, Leicester sensed the chance to kill the game off before the interval, only to find themselves in trouble at half-time after Dan Hipkiss' yellow carded for killing the ball ignited Worcester into life.

Drahm's third penalty of the match was followed on the stroke of half-time by  Ben Hinshelwood's try after Kai Horstmann's long pass had sent the centre free to score in the corner.

However, the away side's hopes of victory were quickly killed off straight after the break as Leicester exploded into action at the start of the second half.

Goode, on for Humphreys at the interval, began the scoring spree with a penalty and he then converted Austin Healey's first try in 14 games as the World Cup winner was forced over in the corner thanks to a helping hand from Corry.

With their tails up, the Tigers went in for the kill and a sharp move down the right wing culminated with Harry Ellis scoring with his first touch since coming on from the bench.

Fellow replacement Tom Varndell then put the icing on the cake for the hosts after a break by Geordan Murphy, Goode's touchline conversion being the final points of the contest.