The champions stumbled again in their first outing, just as they did last year at Newcastle, while for lowly Leeds it was a repeat of their downing of Bath on the same day 12 months ago.
For both teams it was a reprise of those events and emotions. Leicester, for all their solidity up front, lacked a cutting edge - and lacked the passion that will no doubt start to flow again before too long.
For Leeds, the determination and passion were almost tangible. With the ball, they attacked the tackler; without it, they attacked the ball-carrier. And, for all the apparent persistence of a lack of authority in their set-piece work, they seem to have given themselves a new dimension with the power of George Harder, a winger from the Auckland Blues, the acceleration of the Argentine Diego Albanese and the shaping of some composed back play by the young Scot Gordon Ross.
It was Ross who hammered home the winning kicks, but only after a series of misses, starting with a surprising failure by Braam Van Straaten from nearly in front, and, after the South African had gone off, this trend continued with Ross's first penalties falling well short. But a lovely drop goal from 47 metres clearly inspired him, and he then delivered a penalty from his own side of halfway.
Fittingly, the opening Leeds try started with a tackle by lock forward Tom Palmer that won possession in midfield. It ended with Harder's determination carrying him some 15 metres, wrestling against the tackle of Tim Stimpson, before he managed to get in the overhead pass from which Dan Scarbrough scored.
Much of Leicester's play seemed to revolve around Austin Healey, who is certainly a different sort of fly-half - and who seemed to be a target for Leeds. He was an eye-catching mixture of the good and the indifferent. Exploratory runs by him often ended with a telegraphed pass, with the recipient being hit instantly. On some occasions, though, the pass never came, and Healey was away on a dangerous run.
He it was who scored the try that levelled the scores - and during the period in which Ben Kay was resting in the sin bin. Healey found Neil Back out wide and the flanker returned the favour, holding the ball up as the fly-half ran around him. Healey then skirted the remaining defender to run into the corner with an air of insouciance.
Then came Ross's decisive kicking sequence - and at the end a confirmatory try. Harder, who has strength but apparently no sidestep, fed Albanese, who put in Scarbrough for the talented full-back's second try. So three Leeds aces had the last word.
No word, though, from Jon Callard, the coach who has found a new opportunity at Leeds after a miserable winter at Bath. But he was said, by his boss, Phil Davies, to be smiling. That is rare. And perhaps it was the best augury of this victory.
Leeds: Scarbrough; Harder, Davies, Van Straaten (Hall 25), Albanese; Ross, Hegarty; Shelley (capt), Regan, Kerr, Murphy, Palmer, Mather, Hyde, Feaunati.
Leicester: Stimpson; Booth, Smith, Hipkiss (Naufahu 51), Tuilagi; Healey, Hamilton (Ellis) 49); Rowntree (Freshwater 60), West, Tournaire, M Johnson (capt), Kay, Kronfeld (W Johnson 66), Back, Corry.
Referee: C White (Cheltenham).
