Leicester Tigers 36 Gloucester 3: Flood and Youngs give Lancaster food for thought with inspirational performances
Leicester boss Richard Cockerill showered praise on England half-backs Toby Flood and Ben Youngs after the Tigers crushed Premiership play-off rivals Gloucester at Welford Road.
Flood and Youngs are currently filling bench roles for England, but they ran the show behind an imperious Leicester pack.
Scrum-half Youngs scored one try and helped create two others, while Flood booted 11 points and kept Gloucester on the back foot through his masterly tactical kicking.
Cockerill said: “We know they are quality players, and I thought they did some fantastic things. Their attitude was really good.”
Flood said: “It was great to have 70-odd minutes and to feel amongst it. I thought Ben was outstanding. He has been a bit frustrated of late, but he was a real threat. He enjoys running the game.”
Youngs, prop Logovi’i Munipola and flanker 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.
Wasps ended their nine-match Premiership losing streak to ease their relegation fears with an 18-13 victory over London Irish.
Michael Claassens and former Leeds winger Tom Biggs each scored a brace of tries as Bath continued their quest for a top-six finish with a bonus-point, 36-17, victory over Worcester. Matt Banahan grabbed Bath’s fifth try.