Hot on the heels of their five point triumph in Italy against Benetton Treviso the Tigers were in irrepressible mood as they ran in six tries with Youngs scoring one and creating another in a scorching start to the second half.

The Scarlets had never beaten the Tigers in Leicester before, but they came buoyed by their bonus points home win over Perpignan the previous weekend. They scored four tries in that clash and opened their account at Welford Road as early as the 13th minute.

Taking full advantage of turn over possession, as well as the fact Tigers were down to 14 men through the sib-binning of wing Alesana Tuilagi moments early, they quickly moved the ball from the ball into the space out wide.

Having outflanked the shorthanded Tigers back line they made good ground up the left before Josh Turnbull and Regan King brought the move back inside to the home 22. King then found supporting wing Morgan Stoddart and he raced 15 metres to score a try that Stephen Jones converted.

That score rocked Tigers into action and four minutes later they had levelled matters through a close range trundle from Italian international prop Martin Casgtrogiovanni and a conversion from Toby Flood.

Flood then pulled a penalty attempt wide of the posts before giving his side the lead for the first time in the 31st minute. He then increased the advantage three minutes later when Scarlets centre Regan King was yellow carded for another ruck infringement in front of his posts.
The power of the home pack was already beginning to tell, as well as their well marshalled and hard hitting defence, and it didn’t help the visitors’ cause when their Wales prop Rhys Thomas was carried off on a stretcher with what looked like a serious injury to his left leg.

The Scarlets’cause was given a boost on the stroke of half-time when Jones kicked a simple penalty and they were happy to have been back within three points as they headed for the break.

But a burst of three tries in 11 minutes after the re-start not only earned the Tigers a precious bonus point, but also took them racing clear on the scoreboard. The catalyst for the points avalanche was scrum half Ben Youngs, who broke clear to run in unopposed from 25 metres for the first try a minute after the second half had started.

The England scrum half then made the half-break, and pass out of the tackle, that sent No 8 Tom Waldrom running in for the next try and finally Tom Croft went over after a King pass had gone to ground and been snapped up by home skipper Geordan Murphy.

Flood converted all three to increase the gap to 24 points and he also improved Croft’s second try on 63 minutes.

Tigers kept pressing forward and grabbed a sixth try through centre Matt Smith.