BBC SPORT | Rugby Union | English | Tigers tear Falcons apart

Leicester 52-9 Newcastle

Tim Stimpson was in form with the boot
Stimpson dropped a goal from 45 metres
Leicester may have lost two out of two on the road this season, but they maintained the fortress reputation of Welford Road with a 50-point thrashing of Newcastle.

Tim Stimpson kicked 32 of those points, including the conversion of all four of his team's tries, as the Tigers cashed in on the domination of their forward pack.

Newcastle were overwhelmed and could not breach the Leicester line, although they shone in glimpses.

In contrast, Rod Kafer, Neil Back, Ollie Smith and Graham Rowntree all crossed for the hosts.

We were almost in awe of Leicester and let them have the ball

Rob Andrew
Newcastle director of rugby

Leicester director of rugby Dean Richards made 10 changes after last week's 29-16 defeat at Sale.

He brought back his England forwards and gave a home debut to Sam Vesty at fly-half.

And it was the 20-year-old took charge as Leicester dictated the tempo and dominated possession, allowing Stimpson to keep the scoreboard ticking over.

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The former Falcon landed 12 kicks, including a 45m drop goal that bordered on the arrogant.

Wilkinson matched him early on before the Tigers' forward power began to tell.

Vesty cut through the Newcastle rearguard and set up Kafer for the opening try, Stimpson's conversion giving Leicester a 28-9 half-time lead.

The last few weeks were just hiccups in what we are aiming to achieve

Dean Richards
Leicester director of rugby

After the break, the hosts continued to turn the screw and, after Richard Arnold was sin-binned on 50 minutes, Back took advantage to cross almost unopposed.

Leicester were now rampant.

Smith burrowed over under a pile of bodies for their third try, awarded only after Stimpson had alerted referee Steve Leyshon that his touch-judge felt the score was good.

The Tigers continued going forward in search of the bonus point and duly secured it through Rowntree's try in the closing stages.

Leicester: Stimpson; Ellis, Smith, Kafer, Tuilagi; Vesty, Tierney; Rowntree, West, Garforth, M Johnson, Kay, Moody, Back, Corry.
Replacements: Tournaire, Chuter, Naufahu, Short, Booth, Gelderbloom, Kronfeld.

Newcastle: Botham; Shaw, Noon, Godman, Stephenson; J Wilkinson, Grindal; Peel, Brotherstone, Hurter, Vyvyan, Grimes, Taione, Arnold, Dowson.
Replacements: Charlton, Ward, Hamilton, Devonshire, Isaacson, Thompson, Otuvaka.

Referee: Steve Leyshon (RFU)


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