But it was another defeat at the home of the league runners-up for Warriors who were left to rue mistakes and two yellow cards.

Leicester stormed out of the traps and two tries from England centre Manu Tuilagi saw them open up a 17-9 lead while former Leicester man Andy Goode slotted three penalties to keep Warriors in touch.

A yellow card to Chris Pennell saw the hosts take advantage as Vereniki Goneva bulldozed over before Lemi grabbed a fine score as he beat the Fijian winger in a race to the corner.

Worcester went down to 14 men for the second time in the game as Shaun Perry was sin binned and the home side wrapped up victory with a penalty try and late score from Graham Kitchener.

However, it was Warriors who finished on the front foot and Grove shot over in the dying moments as Worcester came up just short of a losing bonus point that would have been reward for a display packed full of effort and endeavour.

Warriors named the side starting line-up that were narrowly beaten by Bath on the opening day of the campaign and the visitors looked to exert early pressure with Semisi Taulava, Aleki Lutui and Sam Betty all carrying ball strongly.

However, a first attack resulted in turnover ball from Goneva, after the initial cutting break from Alex Grove, allow Leicester to break from deep and they worked the ball through hands before Kitchener held off his man and sent Tuilagi over in the corner.

Goode reduced the deficit with a penalty three minutes later, but it was Leicester who were slinging the ball around in the sun in the opening stages with real authority and menace.

Flood did make a mess of a penalty attempt, after a big home scrum shunt, as he pushed his effort wide right to groans from the Welford Road crowd.

But within moments they were cheers of delight as Goneva broke several weak tackles, after collecting Lemi's attempted chip ahead, to storm down the middle. The play looked to have broken down, but Tuilagi picked up the loose ball and handed off more men to score.

Worcester almost hit back from the restart as Matt Mullan and Chris Jones went at their opposite men at pace with the back row offloading to Goode who was just hauled up short.

Tigers turned over ball but Flood sliced his clearing kick badly to give Worcester a five-metre scrum that soon turned into three points after an infringement at the scrum.

Flood pushed Tigers further ahead while Warriors continued to conspire against themselves as a poor pass to Grove saw him loose the ball and it was hacked ahead by Leicester.

Goode raced back but he was swamped and Tigers secured a five-metre scrum and more pressure. Worcester, though, won the penalty as Perry brilliantly tap tackled Sam Harrison as he looked to peel away and Betty leapt to secure the penalty for not releasing.

Two quick-fire penalties against young hooker Tom Youngs saw Worcester look to get the driving lineout going close to the home line. Warriors then battered the line before the ball was turned over and Geordan Murphy cleared.

Goode again had a chance to eat into the lead, after Perry had implored referee Small to give Warriors the shot at goal for illegal work from Tigers at the breakdown, and the ex-England man was deadly accurate with his attempt just before the half hour.

Leicester, though, were looking clinical every time they attacked and more slick handling, after the Worcester scrum lost ball, saw Tuilagi pulled back as he raced in for his treble for a knock on earlier on in the move.

The elusive running style of Lemi and brunt power of Schofield made big yards before Goode dangerously chipped in behind Leicester and just failed to find Josh Drauniniu as Murphy mopped up the danger.

Leicester mounted one last attack before the break and Pennell was yellow carded for deliberately slowing down the play on the floor. Tigers sensed the chance to strike with time up but after a series of penalties at the scrum they went wide and Flood knocked on.

The home side came out for the second half in the same mood as the first and went further ahead as Goneva crashed over after Leicester kept the ball alive and went left and right at pace to exploit gaps with the extra man.

Worcester hit back in style as Tigers were guilty of overplaying and when the pass went to the floor it was Matavesi who pounced. The centre exploited a gap and fed Lemi who tore away from inside his own half. Goode added the difficult extras from out wide to cut the lead back to 22-16

The momentum was suddenly with Warriors, but within a minute it was gone as Perry became the second man to be yellow carded by referee Small and spent ten minutes off the field.

Lemi stepped into scrum half with aplomb as he started to run the game and Worcester enjoyed a period of control as Leicester appeared to lose their way despite the man advantage.

A big hit on Matavesi, though, saw Tigers claim a penalty for holding on. Flood failed to ease any home nerves with a kick that drifted wide left of the posts.

Leicester looked to finish the game off as they went close through replacement Logovi'i Mulipola, with only a loose pass stopping them converting the pressure in the corner. But a scrum five metres out was enough to finally drive it home courtesy of a penalty try.

Goode cut the lead and advantage back to ten points with a penalty, but the home side made certain there would be no comeback with former Warrior Graham Kitchener going over in the last ten minutes.

Goode looked to spark a late effort for Warriors as he stepped inside his man and chipped into space forcing Murphy to hack the ball dead.

Worcester did strike in the last seconds as Grove battered over, but Goode's conversion left them a point of a bonus point and forced to reflect on what could have been.

Timeline:
02m Tuilagi t Flood c 7-0
05m Goode p 7-3
12m Tuilagi t Flood c 14-3
16m Goode p 14-6
18m Flood p 17-6
28m Goode p 17-9
42m Goneva t 22-9
49m Lemi t Goode c 22-16
65m Penalty t Flood c 29-16
71m Goode p 29-19
74m Kitchener t 34-19
80m Grove t Goode c 34-26

Warriors: 01 Matt Mullan (Ceri Jones 65), 02 Aleki Lutui (Hayes 65), 03 John Andress (Currie 62), 04 James Percival, 05 Dean Schofield (Gillies 60), 06 Chris Jones, 07 Sam Betty, 08 Semisi Taulava (Kvesic 60), 09 Shaun Perry (Arr 62), 10 Andy Goode, 11 David Lemi (Howard 67), 12 Josh Matavesi (Carlisle 60), 13 Alex Grove, 14 Josh Drauniniu, 15 Chris Pennell

Replacements: 16 Ollie Hayes, 17 Ceri Jones, 18 James Currie, 19 Craig Gillies, 20 Matt Kvesic, 21 Jonny Arr, 22 Joe Carlisle, 23 Ben Howard