Neil Back grabbed a hat-trick as champions Leicester inflicted a 31-10 victory on relegation-haunted Leeds at Welford Road on Friday.

The Tykes stunned the newly-crowed Zurich Premiership champions at Headingley in November, but never looked likely to repeat the feat on Friday evening as Back ran riot and remain anchored to the foot of the table.

There was even more reason to celebrate for the England back-row as he became only the third forward in Tigers history - after David Matthews and current coach Dean Richards - to score a century of tries for the club.

They were all typically simple affairs. With Leeds struggling to retain their own line-out possession, let alone threaten Leicester's, any penalty for the home side was enthusiastically smashed to the corner.

Louis Deacon and Martin Johnson collected two first-half throws, with Back peeling off the Leicester ruck to splash over on both occasions.

Then three minutes after the interval, he showed slightly more ambition, dashing home from 10 metres after Leicester had again won line-out possession close to the visitors' line to grab the third hat-trick of his career.

It was the perfect warm-up for Tigers' Heineken Cup semi-final confrontation with Llanelli next Sunday, but the result leaves Leeds well in the mire, two points adrift of Harlequins with just three games remaining.

In their current perilous plight, the Tykes cannot afford to look gift horses in the mouth and though they went in front through Braam van Straaten's third-minute penalty, were made to pay for blowing a golden try chance.

Japie Mulder seemed to have plenty of time to weigh up his options after breaking through the Leicester line.

Initially he chose to charge on his own, then flicked a pass to Octavio Bartolucci which only put the Argentine winger in trouble.

Leeds recycled the ball, but when Dan Scarbrough spotted Craig Emmerson with a huge overlap on his outside, he could only spin the ball onto the ground.

Van Straaten did take advantage of a Leicester offside earlier in the move, but by the time Leeds ventured into home territory again, victory was already beyond them.

You do not win four titles on the trot without being able to spot opposition weaknesses and with Leeds lacking two first-choice second-rows, the line-out was always going to be a worrying area for the visitors.

Dorian West exchanged basketball passes with Johnson from the first Tigers throw, then scampered 20m down the wing.

It was the first sign of the dominance Leicester were to enjoy in that department.

Stimpson had already levelled, then excelled by landing four successive touchline conversions.

Ollie Smith marked his return to first-team duties by grabbing the second try after Stimpson had taken advantage of a fortuitous bounce to set up the centre.

Back completed his hat-trick three minutes after the interval, by which time Graham Rowntree and Dorian West had already been withdrawn with next week's City Ground encounter in mind.

Leeds battled bravely and Scarbrough did manage to increase his lead at the top of the top-flight try-scoring charts, following up his own kick to grab his 11th of the season.

But in truth, Leeds made too many basic errors and drastic improvement is required if a season of such promise is not to end with a dismal tumble back into the National League.

Teams:

Leicester: Stimpson, Murphy, Smith, Gelderbloom, Lloyd, Healey, Ellis, Rowntree, West, Nebbett, M. Johnson, Deacon, Corry, Back, Balding.

Replacements: Goode for Healey (56), Hamilton for Ellis (55), Freshwater for Rowntree (44), Cockerill for West (44), Kay for Deacon (74), Short for Balding (66).

Not Used: Booth.

Tries: Back 3, Smith.

Cons: Stimpson 4.

Pens: Stimpson.

Leeds: Scarborough, Bartolucci, Woof, Mulder, Emmerson, van Straaten, Benton, Wring, Luffman, Shelley, Hogg, C. Murphy, Hyde, Ponton, Fea'unati.

Replacements: Benson for Bartolucci (61), Kerr for Wring (50), Holt for Luffman (50), Mather for Hogg (61), Jones for C. Murphy (50).

Not Used: O'Reilly, Davies.

Tries: Scarborough.

Cons: van Straaten.

Pens: van Straaten.

Att: 14,145

Ref: David Pearson (RFU).