Lewis Moody endeared himself to the Welford Road faithful - and possibly England head coach Andy Robinson, too - with a ruggedly effective performance that he capped with a brace of catch-and-drive tries in the space of three second-half minutes. All in all, it steered Leicester towards a handsome victory and a bonus point to boot against a plucky Calvisano team.
After Moody's 11 months out with a serious foot injury, no one had a right to expect his performance of yesterday, which was full of powerful driving around the fringes and plenty of hard graft at the coalface. After failing to get on to the pitch at Harlequins last weekend, much to his chagrin, he was obviously making up for lost time.
But pity poor Calvisano, the second-ranked of the two Italian teams behind Treviso and lying third in their domestic championship. Having lost 16 of the 18 matches they have played in the Heineken Cup, they have been thrown into a group that is one of the most competitive in the 10 years of this increasingly magical competition.
Leicester: twice winners of the Heineken Cup and second favourites this season behind Toulouse after a post-Dean Richards renaissance that has seen the Tigers lose just once since the great one's departure nine months ago.
Biarritz: beaten semi-finalists last season and with talent to burn. Oh, and then there is the small matter of Wasps, the European champions who beat Toulouse so sensationally at Twickenham in May. The proverbial group of death it may be for Calvisano, but it sure gets the neutral's mouth watering.
Still, with Paulo Vaccari, who has been capped 64 times by Italy, and Maurizio Zaffiri in their ranks, they were never going to be anything less than spirited. Outclassed they may have been, particularly at set pieces, but they never let their heads drop.
With the rain falling incessantly, Leicester opted to use the cultured right boot of Andy Goode to kick for territory, which he did to telling effect. The fly-half gave the Tigers an early lead with a penalty goal before Harry Ellis darted over from close range after 13 minutes after an initial thrust by Seru Rabeni.
But, despite being camped in the Calvisano half for the majority of the first period, Leicester were unable to turn a mountain of pressure into points, although Zaffiri and his colleagues should be credited with some excellent close-quarter defence that limited the half-time deficit to 13-3.
After the break, Leicester again dominated utterly and were rewarded with four touchdowns, with Ellis and Rabeni crossing before Moody's double-barrelled fusillade either side of the hour mark.
Game, set and match it may have been, but the Italians just kept on tackling and tackling. Good for them and good for Zaffiri - he was an inspirational leader.
LEICESTER : Vesty; Holtby, Rabeni, Gibson, Healey (A Tuilagi ht); Goode (Cornwell 72), Ellis; Rowntree, Buckland, Morris, M Johnson, Kay, B Deacon, Moody, W Johnson (H Tuilagi 70).
CALVISANO : Vaccari; Nitoglia, Raineri, Zanoletti, Tuta Vodo; Fraser, Canavosio (Griffen ht); Bocca (Castrogiovanni 54), Moretti, Perugini, Ngauamo, Purll, Mandelli, Zaffiri, Elisara.
Referee: D Changleng (Scotland).
