Hamer-Webb grabs five tries as Tigers thrash Newcastle

The Prem

Leicester Tigers (31) 62

Tries: Blamire 2, Hamer-Webb 5, Perese, Radwan 2 Cons: Searle 3, Bailey 3

Newcastle Red Bulls (3) 3

Pen: Healy

Gabriel Hamer-Webb scored five tries as Leicester Tigers crushed an ill-disciplined and desperately outclassed Newcastle Red Bulls in The Prem.

Newcastle already had Elliott Obatoyinbo in the sin-bin when Jamie Blamire put the hosts ahead in the second minute, and the visitors were down to 13 men soon after when Ollie Leatherbarrow was shown a 20-minute red card for a reckless challenge.

Another Blamire score against his former side was followed by a first-half hat-trick from Hamer-Webb that put the East Midlands side 31-3 up at the break.

Izaia Perese added to the advantage after the break before Hamer-Webb grabbed a further two tries and Adam Radwan got among the scoring spree with a double of his own to complete the romping home victory.

And it was a win that was made all the sweeter for Tigers when fit-again England lock George Martin came off the bench for his first appearance in 14 months after a horror run of injury setbacks.

Leicester are third in the table and eight points clear of fifth-placed Bristol.

While Leicester were forced into a late reshuffle with Hanro Liebenberg dropping out, to be replaced by Olly Cracknell in the starting XV, they were never troubled by the league's bottom side.

There was less than a minute on the clock when Obatoyinbo was shown a yellow card for a deliberate knock on, and Tigers took immediate advantage against the 14 men that remained with Blamire going over.

Ben Healy landed a penalty in response, but it quickly got worse for Newcastle when Leatherbarrow was sent off for shot on an opponent's knee.

There was a momentary reprieve when Cracknell had a try overturned by the television match official, but three tries in six minutes from Blamire and Hamer-Webb – who grabbed two – quickly earned the hosts a try-scoring bonus point.

Hamer-Webb completed his treble before the break then, after linking up with Perese to send the Australian over for the first score of a more subdued second half, the Wales international went over twice more in a scintillating display.

Radwan piled on more misery on the visitors with a brace of tries in the final 10 minutes against his former club.

Leicester Tigers: Steward; Radwan, Wand, Bailey, Hamer-Webb; Searle, Van Poortvliet; Smith, Blamire, Heyes; Henderson, Chessum, Moro, Watson, Cracknell.

Replacements: Clare, Haffar, Hurd, Martin, Wells, Whiteley, Perese, Hassell-Collins.

Newcastle Red Bulls: Hodge; Wade, Hearle, Beeckmans, Obatoyinbo; Healy, Elliott; Rewcastle, Fletcher, Palframan, Hodgson, Scott, Gordon, Christie, Leatherbarrow.

Replacements: Adejimi, Brocklebank, McCallum, Clarke, Parsons, Benitez Cruz, Connon, Lee-Warner.

Sin-bin: Obatoyinbo (1) ; Red card: Leatherbarrow (7)

Referee: Joe James.