Steve Tandy’s youthful team put on a brave display at Welford Road but were beaten 39-16 and outscored by four tries to one.
Sam Williams claimed a fine individual score for the 2008 Anglo-Welsh winners and Sam Davies kicked three penalties and a conversion but the Ospreys never looked like heading for home with an opening round win.
Despite missing 11 players to Wales duty and a further six through injury, the Ospreys were well in the game at half-time before the Tigers pushed on in the second period.
A slow start saw the Ospreys slip 9-0 behind to a hat-trick of penalties to former Scarlets fly-half Owen Williams inside the opening 14 minutes but Davies cut the gap to just three points before the midway mark of the half.
The Ospreys finally seemed to be getting a foothold against the team they beat to claim the title at Twickenham five years ago but a Thomas Waldrom try swung things back in Leicester’s favour with 27 minutes gone. The England No8 burst through three attempted tackles on his way to the line to make it 14-6 to the hosts.
Williams missed the conversion, though, and Davies – who was off target with his first kick at goal and hit the crossbar from 45 metres with his fourth attempt – ensured the gap was just five points at half-time when he struck again after 33 minutes.
But it was all Leicester after the break as Richard Cockerill’s men dominated territory and possession throughout. Williams added two more penalties to take the score out to 20-9 before scrum-half Sam Harrison sniped over from close-range on the hour, just three minutes after Ospreys skipper Lloyd Peers had returned from a spell in the sinbin.
The Ospreys defended manfully before Harry Wells claimed Leicester’s third try with 10 minutes left to play and they had something to celebrate when Williams picked the Tigers’ pockets after strong work in the tackle from Aisea Natoga. Williams ripped the ball from the ensuing maul and then showed a great turn of pace to race home for a try that the Ospreys’ efforts deserved.
Davies landed a superb touchline conversion to make it 32-16 but Michael Noone grabbed the bonus-point score for Leicester with just seconds remaining when try-scorer Williams had become the second Osprey to see yellow.
