Leicester's emphatic destruction of their opponents' title pretensions should have spawned hearty celebrations at Welford Road on Saturday but instead the occasion was soured by a mindless act of violence resulting in London Irish scrum-half, Kevin Putt, receiving six stitches to a cut over his eye.
Sky cameras provided graphic footage of the incident in which England international and Leicester scrum-half Austin Healey brought his foot down on the face of Putt with the ball nowhere in picture. The perpetrator may find himself severely censured if London Irish pursue an inclination to cite him for foul play, but he should be relieved that there weren't more tragic consequences.
He should also be grateful that the recipient of his footwork indicated that he would not want the matter pursued further. Putt explained: "All I can say is that it is one of those unfortunate things that happen in rugby. You have had the good fortune to see something that I haven't. Obviously a little bit of hot blood came through at the time. It's unfortunate but so be it.
"I'll be totally honest with you. I have no interest in it (the incident) and as far as I'm concerned the matter is behind me. We were beaten by the better team on the day."
Healey was contrite afterwards, claiming: "I am very sorry about the whole incident, it was a complete accident as I was trying to get my foot out of the way." The television footage doesn't appear to substantiate that claim.
Putt's injury compounded an already unhappy weekend for London Irish. On Thursday evening second row Malcolm O'Kelly learned that he must undergo surgery later today on his damaged shoulder and as a result will be out of commission for 12 weeks, thereby missing the entire Five Nations championship.
His priority in an international context, like that of fellow casualty Kieron Dawson - the open-side flanker will be a sidelined for a further three weeks with two broken bones in his foot - will be to make the squad for the summer tour of Australia. Of more immediate concern to the Exiles is that they have been denied two players in superlative form.
On Saturday's evidence their presence is sorely missed, the Irish pack lacking the dynamism to trouble Leicester. Instead, much to the delight of the huge home support, Martin Johnson and his fellow "Tigers" strangled the life out of the visiting eight. Carefully constructing rolling mauls from line-outs and off the base of scrums, Leicester, as befits a side coached by Dean Richards, employed the direct route straight through the heart of the opposing pack.
But Leicester's victory may be primarily attributable to the inspired place-kicking of out-half Joel Stransky (he landed seven penalties) and magnificent defence, an area on which they have worked assiduously under former Great Britain rugby league coach Phil Lardner. London Irish arrived with a reputation as the league's free spirits, whose first option was to put the ball through the hands. It was to prove their Achilles heel on Saturday: one dimensional and therefore predictable, the fare ultimately produced was more basketball than rugby.
London Irish captain Conor O'Shea acknowledged their inability to pose problems for their opponents. "Their defence was brilliant. Steve (Bachop) summed it up perfectly in the dressing room afterwards when he said that this was the first time that we've been shovelling ball out since he arrived. We changed out gameplan too late in switching to the pick and go and taking the ball through the middle to stop them fanning out.
"Teams are going to do their homework on us and we have got to come up with the answers."
Niall Woods was equally forthright: "They put us under a lot of pressure and we didn't handle it very well, especially in the first half. We were quite lateral rather than direct. There wasn't much space out there and we were trying not to kick, which meant that we ended up taking a lot of tackles but not getting anywhere."
A flatness and indecisiveness seemed to afflict the majority of the visiting players, with the notable exception of Brendan Venter and Justin Bishop. The latter enjoyed a superb match both in defence and on the limited occasions when he received a pass of note. O'Shea and Woods were largely subdued, with the latter demonstrating an unusual fallibility with his place-kicking, missing three penalty opportunities.
He admitted: "My left foot was too far away from the ball and I pulled a couple." London Irish coach Dick Best did not appear unduly concerned. "We are a good team but they are a better one and we know that we still have some way to go." He refused to concede, however, that the title race was over.
O'Shea was similarly upbeat: "We learnt a big lesson. At the start of the season we identified a top-six place as our target. You cannot go from the bottom of the pile to the top of the heap in one fell swoop. If that were the case there would be a lot of chequebooks out. But neither do we become a bad team overnight, just because of one match."
Stransky kicked six first-half penalties from various distance as London Irish frequently transgressed under the pedantic refereeing of Graham Hughes. Robert Todd's missed tackle on Dave Lougheed allowed Leicester to lead 23-3 at the interval, with Woods' easy penalty the only reply.
Venter's try and Woods' conversion seven minutes after the interval suggested a revival but despite Irish's willingness to run the ball it was their opponents who appeared more dangerous.
Stransky's eighth penalty and an injury-time try from Leon Lloyd sealed a satisfactory afternoon for the league leaders. On Saturday's evidence it may be just one of a number to come, culminating in league success.
Scoring sequence: 3 mins: Stransky pen, 30; 5: Stransky pen, 6-0; 8: Woods pen, 6-3; 16: Stransky pen, 9-3; 21: Stransky pen, 12-3; 24: Stransky pen, 15-3; 40: Lougheed try, 20-3; 42: Stransky pen, 23-3. Half-time: 23-3. 47: Venter try, Woods con, 23-10; 67: Stransky pen, 26-10; 81: Lloyd try, 31-10.
Leicester: T Stimpson; L Lloyd, C Joiner, P Howard, D Lougheed; J Stransky, A Healy; G Rowntree, R Cockerill, D Garforth, M Johnson (capt), F van Heerden, L Moody, M Corry, N Back. Replacements: D Jelley for Rowntree (62 mins); D West for Cockerill (67 mins); W Johnson for Moody (67 mins); J Stuart for Joiner (73 mins).
London Irish: C O'Shea (capt); J Bishop, R Todd, B Venter, N Woods; S Bachop, K Putt; N Hatley, R Kirke, R Hardwick, R Strudwick, N Harvey, J Boer, I Feaunati, R Gallagher. Replacements: M Worsley for Hardwick (62 mins); K Fullman for Hatley (73 mins).
Referee: G Hughes (England).
