The Leicester Tigers camp was bristling with anger on Saturday night.

They were on the receiving end of the sort of finish that has served them so well over the years.

Leading 11-6 with just 25 minutes to go, the visitors were out-muscled by an Exeter Chiefs team who seemed to create blind panic in the Tigers ranks.

They capitalised with 13 unanswered points and completed a first Aviva Premiership double over Tigers to scenes of utter delirium at a rocking Sandy Park.

Tigers got into a huddle on the pitch after the obligatory handshakes for a rapid post-mortem.

"We said what we needed to say there and then, as soon as possible after the whistle," said hooker George Chuter.

Director of rugby Richard Cockerill continued the dressing down in the changing room after the game with phrases like "not good enough" and "unacceptable" commonplace in the post-game press conference.

Tigers gave away far too many penalties and lost any sense of continuity in the final quarter.

Exeter played their part in that – but Ulster they are not.

The most painful part of it all for Leicester was that, until the wonderful Tom Johnson charged down Toby Flood's attempted clearance on 55 minutes and Richard Baxter dived on the loose ball for a try, the Chiefs never looked like scoring all evening as Tigers smothered everything that was thrown at them.

After that score, though, and former Tigers fly-half Ignacio Mieres' conversion had put his side ahead for the first time at 13-11, Tigers never looked like getting back into it.

Not only was the chance to leap-frog Northampton into third place thrown away but the manner of the defeat will cause concern for any lingering hopes of a possible top-two finish.

Tigers may have been missing their England quartet to the Six Nations but this was still a very good side on paper.

Flood and Anthony Allen looked rusty, though, Manu Tuilagi saw little good ball to work with and tight-head prop Julian White, starting just his third game of the season, gave away several penalties.

Injuries to scrum-half Sam Harrison (ankle) and Alesana Tuilagi (head) caused further concern.

If Harrison is out for any length of time, Leicester could be missing three of their four scrum-halves for this week's trip to champions Saracens. Anyone fancy a game?

It had all started so well, too. In an amazing replica of last season's league fixture here, Alesana Tuilagi opened the scoring early on with a try in the same corner of the pitch.

Having stretched the Chiefs' defence, Geordan Murphy passed to Tuilagi, who still had plenty to do on the left wing. But the big Samoan crashed straight through the last man to touch down right in the corner on eight minutes.

He did the same thing in the sixth minute of last season's meeting.

Flood missed the touchline conversion but the score quietened down a noisy Sandy Park crowd.

Exeter began to dominate possession and territory, though, and Leicester's defence had to be at its measly best to withstand several phases of sustained possession.

Flood extended Leicester's lead to 8-0 on 29 minutes but the home side ended the half the stronger.

Mieres kicked two out of three penalties in the final 10 minutes and they were closest to a try when Manu Tuilagi bundled Gonzalo Camacho into touch a metre shy after Mieres' cross-field kick.

Tigers enjoyed some good ball as the second half began and, after missing one kick, Flood landed a 54th-minute penalty to make it 11-6. That was as good as things got for the rest of the evening, though, as Exeter began their fightback and won the last 25 minutes 13-0.

Johnson charged down Flood's clearance kick and won the race to the biggest in-goal area in the league to dive on the ball. Mieres' conversion gave the Chiefs their first lead of the day at 13-11. The try gave the hosts real impetus and cheered on by their boisterous home crowd, Exeter dominated the set-piece, the breakdown and the midfield with a really aggressive defensive set and line speed.

Mieres booted two more penalties and, when Flood hit a post with a straightforward kick which would have earned them a losing bonus point, Leicester's miserable night was completed.