Tigers tear Sarries apart

Leicester tightened their grip on a Guinness Premiership play-off place with a six-try demolition of Saracens at Welford Road.

Two tries from former New Zealand full-back Scott Hamilton, the second a long-range effort which sealed the bonus point, took the Tigers to their fifth straight league win under acting head coach Richard Cockerill.

Centre Dan Hipkiss marked his 100th appearance for Leicester with a try and the Tigers' domination was reflected in the award of a penalty try when Saracens collapsed a sequence of scrums close to their own line.

Saracens were unsettled by having to make a late change when centre Brad Barritt aggravated a groin injury in the warm-up and became their eighteenth absentee.

Things went from bad to worse when Leicester scored after just five minutes with lock Louis Deacon collecting an inside pass from Marcos Ayerza to score from close range.

Julien Dupuy added the conversion but the French scrum-half hobbled off after Justin Marshall had pulled back three points with a drop goal.

Dupuy's departure and an injury to flanker Ben Herring forced Leicester to reshuffle and Saracens capitalised as they did so.

United States full-back Chris Wyles latched onto a stray bouncing pass that wrong-footed the Tigers defence and strode over for a try that left Glen Jackson with an easy conversion to level the scores.

Composure

Leicester soon regained their composure and took a grip on the game with two tries in the last five minutes of the half, both set up by clever interplay between Aaron Mauger and Alex Tuilagi.

Hamilton got the first and Hipkiss galloped over for the second which Sam Vesty improved.

Leicester took time to get going again at the start of the second half and Jackson was able to reduce the lead to six points with two early penalties.

But Derick Hougaard found the target with a penalty for Tigers during the five minutes he was on as a blood replacement for Vesty.

Leicester did not have to wait long for the bonus-point try as Hamilton galloped over from long range through some flimsy attempts at tackling.

Leicester were rampant by now, scoring two tries in the last three minutes. Persistent forward pressure forced Saracens to drop a series of scrums which tested the patience of referee David Rose and led to the award of the penalty try.

There was still time to score again and this time Varndell was not to be denied, the winger sprinting clear from half-way for the Tigers' sixth try with Hougaard adding his second conversion.