Leicester Tigers 40 London Irish 8

I was at the match this afternoon. Irish had plenty of possession, with Mike Catt showing the generalship that has brought him back into the England reckoning, but Leicester's defence was able to cope with everything that was thrown at it.

By contrast, every time Tigers got possession in the Irish half they looked like scoring a try. Harry Ellis scored from the kind of break he never seems able to make for England and there was a wonderful piece of skill by Geordan Murphy where he kicked an awkwardly bouncing ball up into his hands before going over for a try. Come to think of it, he never seems able to do that for Ireland.

Last year Leicester topped the table and then seemed surprised that they had to take part in play offs to claim the title. They lost heavily in the final. This year they have been cannier, cruising into second place to secure a home semi-final, and today they looked at their best. Sale will have a job to hold them at Twickenham.

There was also a real Bateman cartoon moment: The Man Who Thought It Was Acceptable To Shout Out While Someone Was Taking A Penalty Kick At Welford Road.

We don't do that sort of thing at Leicester. We don't have to. We are the best.