Defending Premiership champions Leicester Tigers responded in the best possible fashion as they secured a comfortable 27-19 triumph over Harlequins on Sunday.
The Midlanders had suffered two successive defeats, including a 51-18 hammering at the hands of Saracens in their last away game, but found their defensive resolve to defeat Quins.
Steve Borthwick’s men swarmed all over their opponents and prevented the hosts from gaining any sort of rhythm in attack.
With the Tigers’ fundamentals working so well, the visitors were able to move 17-0 ahead just after the break thanks to a pair of Tommy Reffell tries and another from Julian Montoya.
Cadan Murley did reduce the arrears in the final quarter, but the Londoners were outplayed and Anthony Watson’s try, allied by Freddie Burns’ penalty, sealed a key Premiership win.
Murley touched down for a second time and Danny Care also went over late on, but the Tigers deservedly went away with the victory.
Click Here: England National Rugby Team Jersey
Click here for teams and scorers
Joe Marler led out Harlequins on his 250th appearance for the club but his side soon fell behind to an eighth-minute try.
Leicester chose more attacking options in preference to kicking a straightforward penalty and were rewarded when Reffell finished off a period of pressure.
Burns missed the touchline conversion and then a 45-metre penalty attempt but the Tigers still dominated the opening quarter and led 5-0 at the end of it.
Leicester suffered an injury blow when Chris Ashton was forced to leave the field, having come off second best as he tried to bring down Quins’ powerful full-back Tyrone Green.
A couple of bursts from Green spurred his side into action and they looked to have drawn level when Luke Northmore crashed through the visitors’ defence but TMO replays showed that the centre had lost possession in the process of touching down.
Harlequins were made to pay for their prolificacy when their opponents broke out of defence to create a try for Montoya with a conversion from Burns giving the Tigers a 12-0 interval advantage.
Within a minute of the restart, Leicester centre Harry Potter split the defence with the best break of the game but desperate defence from the home side kept their line intact.
The decisive try
After 53 minutes, the Tigers scored a decisive third try when neat passing from replacement Jack van Poortvliet and Burns saw Reffell diving over in the corner for his second.
Quins’ woes continued when their best player Green was helped from the field with a leg injury.
It took them until the 69th minute to get on the scoresheet when Smith and Tommy Allan created a run-in for Murley but there was to be no trademark comeback with a penalty from Burns and interception try from Watson sealing victory.
There was still time for Quins to have the final say when Murley and Care raced over for thrilling tries in the last three minutes but it still was not enough to secure a bonus point.