England centre Will Greenwood scored two tries in the first seven minutes at a packed Welford Road as Leicester strengthened their position at the top of the table.

A match between the first and second placed teams in the Premiership promised to be a hard-fought affair, but Bath's defence was caught cold as The Tigers seized the intiative with Greenwood answering any doubts about his fitness.

"Leicester v Bath is a massive match and to score a couple of tries in front of nearly 17,000 people must be as good as it gets in league rugby," he said.

"While I was recovering from my serious shoulder operation and then struggling with an ankle injury, I didn't even think about playing for England. Getting back for Leicester was all I concentrated on and anything else had to be regarded as a bonus."

Excellent work by the Leicester pack led to Greenwood crashing over on the blindside, but his second was a superb solo effort as he chased his own chip to touch down.

Joel Stransky converted both tries and soon made it three out of three after a 50-yard move involving Leon Lloyd, Neil Back and Greenwood gave Neil Overend a chance to score.

Stransky gets to grips with opposite number Catt

Bath were in desperate need of a lift and Jeremy Guscott provided it when he sped through a gap for his ninth try of the season. Mike Catt added the two points and also contributed two penalties, but they trailed 24-13 at the interval.

Leicester remained in control after the re-start but it took them until the 54th minute to add to their tally when scrum-half Austin Healey initiated an attack which ended with flanker Paul Gustard snatching a head-high pass and diving over.

Stransky's kick struck the upright but put that behind him by slipping through for Leicester's fifth try of the afternoon and took his personal total to 16 points with the conversion.

Bath coach Andy Robinson insisted: I did not see a 23-point difference between the sides."

But he praised the performance of Leicester flanker Back, adding: "He was outstanding. He nearly reached perfection and highlighted one of our areas of weakness."

Leicester: Murphy, Lloyd, Greenwood, Overend, Ezulike, Stransky, Healey, Jelley, Cockerill, Garforth, Johnson, Fletcher, Gustard, Corry, Back. Replacements: Stuart, Horak, Poole, Rowntree, Hamilton, Moody, West.

Bath: Perry, Balshaw, Guscott, Maggs, Adebayo, Catt, Hatley, Hilton, Long, Ubogu, Redman, Sturnham, Thomas, Webster, Peters. Replacements: Nicol, Mears, Yates, De Glanville, Preston, Haag, Earnshaw.