Borthwick: 'Anything that has happened was before I came here'

Leicester head coach Steve Borthwick was delighted at the way his side played the rain-sodden conditions to crush Newcastle 31-0 before a crowd of over 22,000 at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.

Falcons barely had a look in as Tigers dominated throughout with their strong pack in control of proceedings, which allowed half-backs George Ford and Ben Youngs to run the show with some superbly-judged kicking.

It still took Tigers until the last minute to pick up their bonus-point try but that score allowed them to extend their lead to nine points over Saracens at the top of the Premiership table.

Dan Kelly, Matt Scott, George Martin and Harry Potter scored tries for Leicester with Ford kicking three conversions and a penalty. Freddie Burns added a conversion.

Borthwick said: “It was very wet out there and we played the conditions exceptionally well.

“We had to work really hard for the scores, especially the last one to get the bonus point at the end.

“This team has a great attitude to fight to the end but they are still are a young side who are improving as a team and we shouldn’t be leaving it until the last minute to get a bonus point.

“We’ve got a terrific fan base which other teams haven’t got and we have to ensure that we make them proud of us.”

Earlier in the week, Leicester were accused of Premiership salary–cap breaches which are presently under investigation.

Borthwick said: “We addressed it at the start of the week and told the players and asked them if they had any questions on it.

“We then got on with it as anything that has happened was before I came here so whatever will be, will be, and I can’t doing anything about it.”

Newcastle’s director of rugby Dean Richards accepted his side were well beaten.

“We are disappointed as we were very rusty after not playing for three weeks but we didn’t play the conditions particularly well,” he said.

“We had some possession in the first half but we were better off without it as George Ford and Ben Youngs were particularly shrewd today, they controlled the game totally.

“Tigers are on a roll and they play a Saracens or Eddie Jones type of game which is a kick-and-chase style.

“It’s incredibly successful at club level and the Leicester crowd will love it as it’s like going back to the old days with no quarter given.”