'We're definitely going to give the old boss some headaches'

Richard Wigglesworth believes Leicester’s fringe internationals have given England coach Steve Borthwick a selection headache after a dominant 48-27 win against Bath.

Scrum-half Ben Youngs and prop Joe Heyes both started in the six-try rout, while centre Guy Porter came on early in the second half as the Tigers made it three wins in a row.

Julian Montoya crossed for two tries and there were further scores from Harry Potter, Handre Pollard, Hanro Liebenberg and Harry Wells.

Bath crossed for four tries of their own but Tigers were rarely in danger and the win lifts the defending champions back into the top four.

Leicester were without Freddie Steward, Dan Cole, Anthony Watson and Jack van Poortvliet, who have all played key roles for former Tigers coach Borthwick in the Six Nations, but Wigglesworth says more of his players could be in contention for next week’s game against France.

“I’m pleased with all the players, not just the guys on the England fringes, but we’re definitely going to give the old boss some headaches,” the interim head coach said.

“The end of the game was a lot easier on the heart than the last two. We were really good in parts. We knocked off for 30 minutes which really annoyed me, because to concede four tries at home is not good enough.

“I’ve told the players how happy I am with the first 40 minutes and a lot of stuff we did, then we got back to putting them under pressure at the end but they were very unlucky with injuries at that point.”

Wigglesworth reserved special praise for fly-half Pollard, who added to his try with an excellent performance from the kicking tee in a 21-point personal haul.

“He is a world-class fly-half, I’m really happy that he got minutes under his belt,” he said.

“He is now Leicester Tigers’ fly-half and will take us forward. I’m delighted for him and he’s running the team beautifully.”

Bath took an early lead through Matt Gallagher’s try and scored three more through Ben Spencer, Josh McNally and Fergus Lee-Warner, but they were made to pay for poor discipline that saw them go down to 13 men temporarily in the first half.

Head of rugby Johann van Graan said: “We are steadily getting better, we’ve become tough to beat, I think every team acknowledges that now.

“I felt it wasn’t a 48-27 game, I thought it was a lot closer but the scoreboard doesn’t lie.

“Leicester are certainly one of the teams I respect the most. I feel where the game got away from us was when we were down to 13 men, to lose your hooker and then your lock.

“Then set-piece wise we lost two crucial line-outs when you’ve got your hooker off and when you’ve got a scrum you can’t put somebody else on.”