Leicester Tigers tamed but Rassie Erasmus wary of Welford Road

Munster 38 Leicester Tigers 0: There can be few more satisfying sights in sport than seeing a big, fat zero next to the name of defeated opposition. After the trials and tribulations Munster experienced against Leicester a year ago, that gratification will have increased in multiples on Saturday.

At Thomond Park in the corresponding Champions Cup fixture on the same December weekend, Munster had flailed and flapped while the Tigers mauled and bullied their way to a 31-19 victory, becoming the first visiting team to win two European games at the province’s spiritual home. On Saturday, 363 days later, the tables were turned spectacularly, the history made by the home side as they inflicted the heaviest defeat in Leicester’s proud European history and leaving them pointless for the first time in 13 years.

Satisfaction was complete and rightly so, at least for the 25,600 sell-out crowd who had endured the miseries of last winter. At last they have a team again not just to cheer but to enjoy and take pride in, none more so than Saturday’s power-packed performance of intensity, accuracy and confidence that provided a second consecutive bonus-point win in Pool 1.