WORCESTER Cavaliers slumped to a heavy 61-12 defeat to Leicester Tigers in the opening Premiership Rugby A League game of the season at Sixways.

The hosts led 12-0 early on thanks to scores for Tom Dodd and Sam Pointon but Tigers hit back with 61 unanswered points in a nine-try victory.

A youthful Cavaliers side opened the scoring on six minutes when Dodd touched down from a driving maul and Sam Hollingsworth converted well from the angle.

Worcester soon grabbed their second when Alex Hearle created space down the left and scrum-half Pointon received the ball before showing his power to bash over the whitewash.

But Tigers responded as Jordan Olowofela struck twice in six minutes, with his second coming after he sliced through and went in under the posts.

Tom Hardwick’s conversion put Tigers ahead for the first time and they added a brilliant third after the fly-half’s kick for the line was chased down by Harry Simmons.

Hardwick then sent a lovely kick from hand towards the corner which saw his team win a lineout and from the resulting throw, Harry Mahoney dotted down to put Tigers 28-12 up at half-time.

The break saw a welcome return for Niall Annett who returned from a hamstring injury but he and his side couldn’t stop Tigers from going over twice more in the early stages of the second period. Mahoney went over for his second from a driving maul and Olowofela secured his hat-trick after showing his pace and power to stampede to the try-line.

Charlie Thacker smashed his way over, Joe Maksymiw added another and Jonno Kitto crossed the whitewash as Tigers went 61-12 up before the hour mark.

Wing Tom Howe then found himself in the sin-bin for a deliberate knock. Cavaliers managed to shut out Tigers in the subsequent minutes, but it was a difficult night for the young squad.