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Two tries, two conversions and five penalties from Billy Twelvetrees ensured Leicester Tigers saw off Premiership strugglers Wasps.

Nic Berry went over to give the visitors an 8-3 lead before Twelvetrees added his second and third penalties either side of a converted try.

The England Saxons international then kicked six more points after the break.

Twelvetrees was not finished yet as he rounded off a dominant display with his second try and conversion.

Standing in at fly-half for injured England international Toby Flood, Twelvetrees ran the show after Leicester had struggled to find their feet in the first 30 minutes of the match.

After Elliot Daly and Twelvetrees exchanged penalties, Nic Berry found space to charge through untouched and give Wasps a five-point lead.

The Tigers fly-half then kicked over his second penalty before being the quickest to react in picking up the ball after Thomas Waldrom went to ground and going over for his first try.

Having converted, Twelvetrees added three more points after Wasps fly-half Ryan Davis had fired over a penalty of his own.

Wasps started the second half well, applying pressure to Tigers' line, but again they failed to punish the hosts.

And it was not long before Leicester made the visitors pay as Twelvetrees added two more penalties before going over for his second try.

This time, after a series of determined attacks on the Wasps line, he collected a smart pass from England scrum-half Ben Youngs to put the ball down under the posts before adding his second conversion of the evening.

Leicester are now just below third-placed Northampton but level on points while Wasps are 10 points clear of bottom side Newcastle.

Leicester head coach Richard Cockerill:

"Billy has improved this year out of sight.

"His ball-carrying has been really good for us and, as you saw, his goal-kicking was very, very good.

"Billy was a bit rusty at 10 because he's not played there for a little while, and Anthony Allen at 12 hadn't played for three months, so that combination was a little bit rusty."

Wasps director of rugby Dai Young:

"Some of our defence was heroic, but you can't spend the amount of time defending that we did against a side like that.

"We were certainly in the game in the first half, and we had one or two opportunities to put some distance between ourselves and the Tigers.

"Unfortunately when we did get in the right areas a line-out went astray or we gave a couple of penalties away. When you're scrapping and need a little bit of luck, things just don't go your way."

Leicester: Murphy (capt); Agulla, Smith, Allen, A Tuilagi; Twelvetrees, B Youngs; Stankovich, Chuter, Cole; Mafi, Parling; Croft, Salvi, Waldrom.

Replacements: Hamilton for Agulla (64), Staunton for Allen (75), Harrison for B. Youngs (72), Mulipola for Stankovich (72), Hawkins for Chuter (15), White for Cole (75), Woods for Salvi (75), Slater for Waldrom (70).

Wasps: Southwell; Varndell, Daly, Flutey, Haughton; Davis, Berry; Payne, Webber, Broster; Birkett, Wentzel (capt), Du Plessis, Poff, Jones.

Replacements: Wallace for Varndell (62), Mayor for Haughton (49), Simpson for Berry (51), Lindsay for Webber (72), Castex for Broster (72), Baker for Du Plessis (68).Not Used: Powell, Everard.

Att: 21,310.

Referee: Tim Wrigglesworth (RFU).