Tigers maul Bath

Tom Croft and Toby Flood scored two tries each as Leicester hammered Bath 37-6 for their first Premiership win at the Rec since 2006.

Ben Youngs and Flood put their poor performances for England in Ireland behind them to inspire Leicester to a thumping victory.

Flood touched down on either side of half-time, and also kicked five attempts at goal for a personal haul of 22 points as Bath slipped to their biggest-ever margin of defeat at home in the Premiership.

Youngs was also at his best, using his eye for the a gap and devastating turn of pace to set up Tom Croft and then Flood as the league leaders built on Anthony Allen's fantastic solo effort on 14 minutes to lead 22-3 at the break.

Bath enjoyed plenty of the ball but were unable to look after possession sufficiently and were punished by a clinical Leicester side who showed why they are the division's top try-scorers.

Butch James' second penalty of the afternoon reduced the arrears shortly after the re-start, but further Leicester pressure resulted in Flood's second score and effectively ended any faint hopes of a comeback from the home side.

As Bath chased the game handling errors became all too frequent and a spilt pass inside the Leicester half, on 63 minutes, ended in Croft scooping up the loose ball and cantering 65 metres to go under the posts for his second.

An ill-tempered end to the game resulted in yellow cards to Argentinean duo, Horacio Agulla and Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, and Bath fly-half James was lucky not to join them after a couple of trademark high tackles.

The scorers:

For Bath:
Pens: James 2

For Leicester:
Tries: Allen, Croft 2, Flood 2
Cons: Flood 3
Pens: Flood 2

Yellow cards: Slater (Leicester - 18th min); Agulla (Leicester - 68th min); Fernandez Lobbe (Bath - 68th min)

Bath: 15 Nick Abendanon, 14 Matt Banahan, 13 Ben Williams, 12 Sam Vesty, 11 Tom Biggs, 10 Butch James, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Simon Taylor, 7 Luke Watson (capt), 6 Ben Skirving, 5 Danny Grewcock, 4 Stuart Hooper, 3 Duncan Bell, 2 Lee Mears, 1 David Flatman.
Replacements: 16 Pieter Dixon, 17 Nathan Catt, 18 David Wilson, 19 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 20 Guy Mercer, 21 Mark McMillan, 22 Shontayne Hape, 23 Jack Cuthbert.

Leicester: 15 Scott Hamilton, 14 Horacio Agulla, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Craig Newby (capt), 6 Tom Croft, 5 Ed Slater, 4 Steve Mafi, 3 Dan Cole, 2 George Chuter, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 Rob Hawkins, 17 Boris Stankovich, 18 Julian White, 19 Jordan Crane, 20 Ben Woods, 21 James Grindal, 22 Jeremy Staunton, 23 Matt Smith.

Venue: The Recreation Ground
Referee: Dave Pearson