| Leicester Tigers: (26) 47 |
| Tries: Reffell 3, Scott, Wiese, Hassell-Collins, Brown Cons: Pollard 4, Shillcock 2 |
| Newcastle Falcons: (3) 3 |
| Pen: Connon |
Tommy Reffell scored a hat-trick as Leicester Tigers thrashed Newcastle, leaving the Falcons winless and bottom of the Premiership table.
A first-half Reffell double, and touchdowns from Matt Scott and Jasper Wiese, earned Tigers a bonus point as they led 26-3 at the break.
Wales flanker Reffell completed his treble after the break as Tigers eased to a third successive win.
Ollie Hassell-Collins and Mike Brown wrapped up the victory with late tries.
Victory lifts Dan McKellar’s Tigers up to seventh in the table, while Newcastle’s heaviest league defeat of the season leaves them eight points adrift at the foot of the table.
Exeter needed a second-half fightback to overcome the lowly Falcons a week earlier, and a bright start by the visitors had them leading after 12 minutes.
But a penalty from Brett Connon, who came in as a late replacement for Louie Johnson, was all they had to show for their relentless early efforts.
And their lead lasted just three minutes, as Reffell crashed over from a maul for the game’s first try in cold and wet conditions at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.
Reffell went over again out wide after Scott punched through a gap and dived over for Tigers’ second try on the half-hour mark.
Wiese collected a loose ball from an attempted pick-and-go near the line to complete the first-half dominance with the five-pointer that earned Tigers just their second try-scoring bonus point of the season.
It was from another maul that Reffell added his third and Tigers’ fifth try of the day after the interval.
Newcastle were down a man, following Pedro Rubiolo’s sin-binning for a high tackle, when Hassell-Collins went over, but even with a full complement they could not deny Brown a last-gasp score on a miserable day for the side from the North East.
‘Reffell has been superb’ – reaction
Leicester Tigers head coach Dan McKellar told BBC Radio Leicester:
“We came here with a really clear plan. We had to do three things well – we had to kick well, defend well and we had to be on it at the set-piece and we were excellent in all three areas.
“What I loved about that performance is that it had Leicester Tigers written all over it, you could see our DNA through and through.
“Newcastle have scored a lot of points in other games and the fact we defended our goalline with real pride, energy and physicality was pleasing.”
On Reffell’s performance: “Tommy Reffell has been superb since he came back [from the World Cup]. He is a player that is challenging himself to be one of the best in the world in his position. He wants to play Test rugby regularly, and if he continues to perform for the Tigers like that then that will be the case.”
Newcastle Falcons head coach Alex Codling told BBC Radio Newcastle:
“They have 14 internationals playing today, they do the basics incredibly well and when you are playing in weather like today we just couldn’t get out of our half.
“And when we did, we made mistakes. They just gradually turned the screw and it was a tough watch.
“The players are fantastic, they have worked their socks off, but when we lose momentum we find it very difficult to get it back.
“The scoreline is a tough one to take, but we just have to move on.”
Leicester Tigers: Brown; Steward, Scott, Kelly, Hassell-Collins; Pollard, Youngs; Van Wyk, Montoya (capt), Cole; Wells, Chessum, Liebenberg, Reffell, Wiese.
Replacements: Clare, Whitcombe, Hurd, Carter, Rogerson, Whiteley, Shillcock, Kata.
Newcastle Falcons: Obatoyinbo; Radwan, Penny, Moroni, Brown; Connon, Elliott; Brocklebank, Blamire, Bello; Hawkins, De Chaves, Rubiolo, Cross, Chick (capt).
Replacements: Byrne, Brantingham, McCallum, Cardall, Lockwood, Stuart, Jennings, Spencer.
Sin-bin: Rubiolo (61)
Referee: Sara Cox.
