Some branch of consumer protection legislation must surely be breached by comments such as that of Dean Richards in the match programme: 'Worcester have nothing to lose this afternoon and we'll have to be at our very best to progress to the quarter-finals.'
At their 'very best'? How, then, could they afford to start with only six of the players who had destroyed Béziers the previous Saturday? They even had the mighty Martin Johnson, himself a mere first-half replacement, sent to the sin bin for a 'diving in' offence at a ruck without it making any difference at all to the control the Tigers held over the visitors' pack.
There was even the opportunity for a Christmas novelty when the Tigers were cruising in the final quarter. A penalty awarded to them in front of the Worcester posts was suddenly chipped to the right corner, where the Leicester player standing wide - and quite unmarked - was prop Franck Tournaire. Sadly, the ball escaped just beyond his despairing reach and into touch.
Certainly Worcester were competitive, and earned some respect from the modest crowd. But were they threatening enough to remind us forcibly of the bombshell dropped by their owner, Cecil ' J'Accuse ' Duckworth? Namely, that a premiership cartel had tried to buy off Rotherham, keeping at bay the South Yorkshire side and therefore also the side so often called 'ambitious Worcester'?
No they weren't. The pack fought well and the backs broke the line three or four times. They had an emerging star in outside-centre Ben Hinshelwood, who has played for Scotland. In one of his breaks only a hand-tap stopped a try, and another incision led to a ruck at which Worcester got their first penalty goal. A committed tackler also, and possessed of a strong line kick, he looks the complete article - but a clause in his contract will see him tempted away at the end of the season if Worcester aren't promoted.
It took Leicester just eight minutes to score their first try, and it was a bad drop by full-back Hugo Southwell that laid it on for Leon Lloyd. The visitors were a bit rattled in a number of areas, especially at the line-out - where they crucially had a throw stolen when they were positioned to maul over. They then conceded such a try when Leicester kicked a penalty to the corner and drove the maul to the line, where hooker George Chuter got the nod.
But with Tim Walsh converting his early penalties, Worcester became a more efficient and confident-looking outfit in the second quarter. They must have been encouraged to reach the interval just 12-9 down. But they soon conceded another try to a mauled line-out, and then the acceleration of Steve Booth from full-back made a presentation of his scoring pass to Ollie Smith. And there was yet another mauled try for the fifth - with young Sam Vesty striking all but one of his conversions beautifully.
Worcester themselves got a maul going near the end. There was evident determination as they marched it 30 metres into the Tigers' 22. Their great desire for a try kept them going throughout the last 10 minutes, when they were clearly tired. The fact that they didn't manage to score one spoke eloquently of the gap between power on one hand and mere ambition on the other.
Leicester. Booth; Smith, Lloyd (Holtby 17), Gelderbloom, Tuilagi; Vesty, Hamilton (Tierney 58); Tournaire, Chuter (West 56), Garforth (Nebbett), Short, Deacon, Corry (capt; M Johnson 26), Balding, W Johnson (Abraham 68) .
Worcester. Southwell; Ezulike, Hinshelwood, Ogilvie-Bull (Chalmers 63), Garrard; Walsh, Swanepoel (capt); Windo, Hall, Olver (Lyman 63), Zaltman, Morgan, Bates (Mason 15), Nias (Pfister 40), Jenner.
Referee: R Maybank (Kent).
