Ben Youngs has hailed his Leicester and England half-back partner George Ford as "an unbelievable footballer" after Tigers kick-started their Aviva Premiership campaign.
And England look set to reap the benefits of a combination now united on a daily basis at club level following Ford's summer move from Bath.
The pair have 107 caps between them, yet it could be a case of the best is yet to come as England's 2019 World Cup countdown reaches the two-year mark.
Scrum-half Youngs scored two tries in a 24-10 victory over Gloucester, while Ford operated impressively outside him, converting all three Tigers touchdowns, kicking a penalty and mixing his game expertly as Leicester recovered from losing opening league games against Bath and Northampton.
"We are certainly working hard on the training ground to get that telepathic understanding of each other," Youngs said.
"It is nice when some of the bits we've been working on come off. There is no doubt he is an unbelievable footballer.
"The conversation we've had over the last two weeks is what can we do better, how can we help the team, as half-backs, to get the team in the game?
"We are desperate to try and improve each other and really build that relationship for the club foremost, and then international hopefully on the back of that.
"You would like to think that playing together every week you are going to get a lot better understanding of each other.
"You are going to be in situations in games where you both experience it at the same time, if that makes sense.
"If you play in a game where you are on the back foot and the lineout is not working, you have actually experienced that together already and you have already come up with solutions of what you will do differently next time, rather than do it at international level and not have had that mutual experience and perhaps come unstuck.
"When things go well, it's great. But equally, when it doesn't work, we both understand 'right, this is what we need to do, this is what I need from you and you need from me'. That can only help.
"He understands the game unbelievably well. He knows everyone's role and what they should be doing, so he is able to coach while training.
"And he demands excellence because he knows where he wants to get to and where the team wants to get to.
"He is on it every day. He knows when to unwind and have a laugh but when the time is right, he is absolutely on it. He's a perfectionist in terms of what he wants and how he wants it to be."
Having avoided starting a league season with three successive defeats for the first time in Premiership history, Leicester head to Harlequins next Saturday before hosting reigning champions Exeter seven days later.
"We had to get this win," Youngs added. "There are certain times in the build-up, you know you just have to win.
"That probably showed in the first half with our urgency, our desire to get over the line. But knowing how hard the competition is, there is a part of me massively frustrated that we were unable to get the bonus point.
"I do think when we get everyone on the pitch and we are right and everyone is firing, without doubt we can be (title contenders).
"We are probably not holding our hands up yet to do it, but no one wins it in September."
Source: PA
