Another Harry is Back As Ellis Seeks Again to Be Prince of Scrum-halves

Harry Ellis admits he could not bear to watch last autumn's World Cup final and went to the gym instead. The months of frustrating solitary exercise have paid off, the scrum-half's return to action from an anterior cruciate ligament injury in his left knee heralding as big a cheer as for any of Leicester's five tries.

Ellis's 22 minutes of action completed a satisfying day for the Tigers, who had lost ground on the Premiership leaders Gloucester after two successive defeats. But after a week of earthquakes, a major tremor had been on the cards as they fell 13 points behind after 23 minutes to a side whose Premiership ambitions had already been turned to rubble.

After Friday night's shock win by Worcester at Sale Leeds are 10 points adrift at the bottom but, if there is any consolation for Stuart Lancaster's side, they will certainly be a cut above any side in National League One when they inevitably swap places with Northampton at the end of the season.

Ellis's return, meanwhile, has suddenly helped transform the England scrum-half debate. At the start of the Six Nations this seemed a problem position for Brian Ashton. But with Richard Wigglesworth's convincing display in Paris and the emergence of Danny Care at Harlequins, England's best player in last season's Six Nations has some healthy competition. Ellis will almost certainly be in England's squad for the trip to New Zealand at the end of the season if his knee and form hold out.

"It's been a long hard road back and after 10 months I'd almost forgotten what it was like to run out at Welford Road," said Ellis. "But I was champing at the bit and I feel really fresh and strong. I was more nervous when I made a comeback in an Academy team during the week and I was physically sick before the game but deep down I know I'm strong enough to play at this level and I've been working on my tackling technique with Neil Back over the winter. I can't even think about England yet but things are looking up after some pretty dark days."

With Gloucester losing at Harlequins, Leicester narrowed the gap at the top to two points and could regain the lead with victory at Worcester this weekend but there was a down side. Geordan Murphy, Ireland's man-of-the-match against Scotland a week before, limped off after 24 minutes with an Achilles injury that threatens to put him out of the encounter with Wales at Croke Park on Saturday.

Leicester's New Zealand flanker Ben Herring was another casualty of a bruising first half and was helped off the field looking as if he had been hit by a double-decker bus. Leicester's consolation is that the pair were replaced by Alesana Tuilagi and Martin Corry. The Samoan powerhouse was making his first appearance since November while the former England captain Corry helped galvanise a pack whose second-half dominance was confirmed when it rumbled over from a lineout and Ashley Rowden awarded a penalty try.

Tom Croft, England's debutant in Paris, showed his versatility when he moved out of the second row to take Herring's place at open-side flanker. The 22-year-old dominated the lineout and worked tirelessly in an outstanding performance. Croft has real pace and before long England might consider converting him to a No8.

Leicester G Murphy (Alesana Tuilagi, 24); Varndell, Hipkiss, Smith, J Murphy; Humphreys, F Murphy (Ellis, 58); Stankovich, Davies (Kayser, 65), White (Castrogiovanni, 65), L Deacon (capt; Pienaar, 67), Croft, B Deacon, Herring (Corry, 38), Crane.

Tries Crane, Varndell, penalty try, J Murphy, Humphreys. Cons Humphreys 3. Pen Humphreys.

Leeds Hinton (Vickerman, 74); Holtby, Hepworth, Andy Tuilagi, Satala (Blackett, 74); Di Bernardo, Bedford (capt; Brooks, 77); MacDonald (Pala'amo, 72), Rawlinson (Ma'asi, 52), Pala'amo (Hopcroft, 47), Lund, Bouza (Lock, 74), Myall, Fourie (Paul, 74), Balding.

Tries Pala'amo, Hepworth. Pens Di Bernardo 2. Con Di Bernardo. Drop-goal Di Bernardo.

Sin-bin Satala, 39.

Referee A Rowden (Berkshire). Attendance 17,002.