Five-try Tigers punish Gloucester
Leicester kept themselves firmly in the Premiership play-off zone by comprehensively beating Gloucester whilst Saracens moved closer to Harlequins with victory over Northampton Saints.
England international half-backs Toby Flood and Ben Youngs ran the show behind an imperious Leicester pack as Tigers battered Gloucester into submission at Welford Road.
Scrumhalf Youngs, prop Logovi'i Mulipola and flank Steve Mafi scored first-half tries to underpin Leicester's dominance of a game they controlled in terms of territory and possession, before centre Matt Smith's 58th-minute score sealed a bonus point and an Alesana Tuilagi breakaway effort confirmed the rout.
Gloucester delivered little more than a prolonged damage-limitation exercise, not only being suffocated by relentless Leicester pressure but also seeing Flood stage a masterclass of tactical kicking.
Flyhalf Freddie Burns booted an early penalty for the visitors, yet they looked a pale shadow of the team that had beaten leaders Harlequins and play-off hopefuls Northampton in recent weeks.
Charlie Hodgson kicked all the points for Saracens as they recorded a measured 18-12 victory over Saints in their tryless match at Vicarage Road on Sunday.
The result means that the gap between defending champions Saracens and log leaders Harlequins is cut to four points to leave the Premiership race wide open.
Leicester Tigers 36-3 Gloucester
The scorers:
For Leicester:
Tries: Mulipola, Mafi, Youngs, Smith, A Tuilagi
Cons: Flood 4
Pen: Flood
For Gloucester:
Pen: Burns
Leicester: 15 Geordan Murphy (captain), 14 Horacio Agulla, 13 Matt Smith, 12 Billy Twelvetrees, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Steve Mafi, 5 Graham Kitchener, 4 George Skivington, 3 Logovi'i Mulipola, 2 George Chuter, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 Rob Hawkins, 17 Boris Stankovich, 18 Julian White, 19 Ben Pienaar, 20 Craig Newby, 21 James Grindal, 22 George Ford, 23 Scott Hamilton.
Gloucester: 15 Jonny May, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Mike Tindall (captain), 12 Tim Molenaar, 11 Tom Voyce, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Dave Lewis, 8 Brett Deacon, 7 Matt Cox, 6 Tom Savage, 5 Alex Brown, 4 Will James, 3 Rupert Harden, 2 Darren Dawidiuk, 1 Nick Wood.
Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Dan Murphy, 18 Shaun Knight, 19 Jim Hamilton, 20 Akapusi Qera, 21 Nick Runciman, 22 Ryan Mills, 23 Ollie Phillips.
Referee: Tim Wigglesworth
Assistant referees: Ashley Rowden, Nigel Carrick
Saracens 18-12 Northampton Saints
The scorers:
For Saracens:
Pens: Hodgson 6
For Northampton:
Pens: Myler 3, Lamb
Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Duncan Taylor, 13 Chris Wyles, 12 Adam Powell, 11 James Short, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 Ernst Joubert, 7 Andy Saull, 6 Justin Melck, 5 George Kruis, 4 Steve Borthwick (captain), 3 Carlos Nieto, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Rhys Gill.
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 John Smit, 18 Matt Stevens, 19 Hugh Vyvyan, 20 Jackson Wray, 21 Neil de Kock, 22 Joel Tomkins, 23 Joe Maddock.
Northampton: 15 Paul Diggin, 14 Vasily Artemyev, 13 George Pisi, 12 James Downey, 11 Scott Armstrong, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Martin Roberts, 8 Roger Wilson, 7 Calum Clark (captain), 6 Phil Dowson, 5 Christian Day, 4 Samu Manoa, 3 Paul Doran-Jones, 2 Andy Long, 1 Soane Tonga'uiha.
Replacements: 16 Ross McMillan, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Tom Mercey, 19 Mark Sorenson, 20 Tom Wood, 21 Ryan Glynn, 22 Ryan Lamb, 23 Tom May.
Referee: Wayne Barnes