Off the field Leicester have just announced a record turnover of £11.3m. On the field their stock is rising. Northampton may have won on their last two visits but they left Welford Road in a bankrupt state.
This was a swaggering display of hard-core rugby from Leicester, only a point off leaders Sale, that suggests that the new challengers to champions Wasps will once more come from this corner of the East Midlands.
The victory was underpinned by a rock-solid display by the Tigers' front five with Martin Johnson outstanding. The former England captain's opponents, hoping his testimonial year would have smoothed his rough edges, will be disappointed. As his opposite number Corne Krige admitted: "That was a tough welcome to Welford Road."
Krige's fellow Springbok Selborne Boome will not look back with any affection on his afternoon. Looking at all will be difficult for the lock this morning, the Saints claiming that a finger in the right eye had put Boome out of the game after a quarter of an hour. By then Johnson and Northampton's Irish lock Damien Browne had been sent to the sin-bin after an enormous punch-up between the packs. It was the second yellow in seven days for Johnson in a match even his coach John Wells called "pretty brutal".
If it was Leicester's all-English pack that forged the victory, their new half-back partnership also stamped their mark. England's supporters have spent all year fretting over the fate of their fly-half Jonny Wilkinson. On Saturday Wilkinson's Newcastle host Leicester and their 19-year-old No10 Ross Broadfoot who, like the England fly-half, displayed great maturity in his first full Premiership game.
The man-of-the-match award went to the scrum-half Harry Ellis but Broadfoot could have staked a claim himself after they were paired up at half-back for the first time. Broadfoot's place-kicking was spot on as it might be after tuition from Dusty Hare, and his touchline conversion of Leicester's fourth try from Seru Rabeni could not have been bettered by the maestro himself.
With England not exactly over-endowed with creative fly-halves Broadfoot revelled in the possession. Far from being intimidated by the attentions of Saints' flankers Krige and Darren Fox, he made a telling early sidestep which gave Austin Healey a sniff of the tryline.
By the time Broadfoot had draped himself over the hoarding around the pitch 15 minutes from time, he had advertised his all-round quality. The fly-half position might soon belong to the teenager, who made his mark for England in this summer's Under-19 World Cup in South Africa.
Broadfoot's cross-kick to the corner on the hour fell into the arms of Rabeni and was a measure of his confidence. By then the Tigers were out of sight and soon afterwards Rabeni's fourth try provided a bonus point with the substitute Wylie Human crossing the Leicester line for what was barely a consolation for the visitors.
Leicester: Murphy (Warren, 75); Rabeni, Smith (Holtby, 62), Gibson, Healey (A Tuilagi, 79); Broadfoot, Ellis; Rowntree, Chuter (Buckland, 72), White, M Johnson (capt), Kay (L Deacon, 72), B Deacon, Back, W Johnson (H Tuilagi, 72).
Tries: Healey, Back, Ellis, Rabeni. Cons: Broadfoot 3. Pens: Broadfoot 2.
Sin-bin: Johnson, 7; A Tuilagi 79.
Northampton: Reihana; Rudd (Human, 55), Tucker, Stcherbina, Cohen; Drahm, Howard; Smith (Budgen, 57), Thompson, Kempson, Boome (Lord, 15), Browne, Fox, Krige (capt), Seely (Blowers, 55).
Try: Human. Con: Drahm. Pens: Drahm 2.
Sin-bin: Browne, 15.
Referee: T Spreadbury.
Attendance: 16,135.
