WORCESTER Warriors suffered more injury woe in a bruising 34-5 defeat at the hands of play-off chasing Leicester Tigers at Sixways in the Aviva Premiership.

Centre Ryan Mills hobbled off in the opening 23 minutes before scrum-half Luke Baldwin had to leave the field on a stretcher in the second half.

The duo’s injuries compounded a miserable afternoon for Warriors whose only try came from Alafoti Fa’osiliva in the first period.

Leicester built up a 12-5 advantage before sweeping to a maximum-point triumph with three of their five tries coming in the final 11 minutes.

With London Irish losing 24-16 at Wasps, Worcester remain 12 points clear of the drop zone with five games left.

Warriors welcomed back fit-again duo Jackson Willison and Jack Singleton as well as Will Spencer, David Denton and Jonny Arr to the starting line-up.

However, they were without Sam Lewis (hamstring) and Francois Hougaard (ankle) due to injury.

Leicester asked plenty of questions of Warriors’ defence in the opening stages as they looked to back up the previous week’s win at Saracens.

The hosts did well to hold firm before Telusa Veainu sparked his side into life with a stunning run from deep.

The full-back slipped off numerous tackles as Leicester put Worcester on the back foot.

The ball was then moved wide with Veainu involved again and Jonah Holmes touched down out wide.

Matt Toomua’s conversion hit the upright as Tigers held a 5-0 lead.

Warriors tried to respond but struggled to keep hold of the slippery ball with Darren Barry twice knocking on in the first quarter.

They also suffered an injury setback when Mills was forced off with debutant Will Butler coming on in his place.

But seconds after he was replaced Warriors struck as they drove over from a line-out with Fa’osiliva grounding the ball in the corner on 23 minutes.

Chris Pennell missed the opportunity to edge his team in front though as his conversion bounced off the post.

Leicester were forced into two changes after ex-Warrior Mike Williams and Holmes sustained injuries.

Worcester created a couple of try-scoring chances when Willison pounced on a loose pass and Fa’oslivia burst through following good work from Butler.

But on both occasions their passes went to ground and Leicester made them pay with a try just before the break.

Loosehead prop Greg Bateman proved too strong as he brushed aside GJ van Velze and Welsh international Josh Adams to score near the posts.

Toomua made no mistake with the conversion to give Tigers a 12-5 advantage at half-time.

The visitors opened up a 10-point cushion four minutes into the second period with a Toomua penalty from range.

Warriors kept plugging away and came close to scoring on the hour mark.

Fa’osiliva went on a charge as his side drove forward only to see Pennell spill the ball.

To compound Worcester’s misery, Baldwin was stretchered off after being struck down in the build-up.

This led to a backline reshuffle with Willison moving to fly-half and Shillcock to scrum-half for the final 20 minutes.

Leicester remained on the front foot and got their third try on 69 minutes when Veainu gathered a deft chip from Toomua to score.

Toomua missed the target with the conversion but made no mistake with his next attempt after Manu Tuilagi scored from close range.

Tigers then rounded off the victory when Veainu kicked, chased and went over with Toomua converting.