Leicester Tigers are back in Premiership Cup action at Mattioli Woods Welford Road Stadium this weekend. They face Newcastle Falcons on Saturday 30 September.
Stuart Keene takes us through 5 things to think about this week.
Danger of Complacency
Look, you can only play what’s in front of you and Tigers can’t select the opposition. But the main danger we’re currently facing is getting complacent after having too much smoke blown up our arse. Many fans are talking about a “new style” & some players talking about playing a more “open” game with less kicking. But we need to remember that Caldy & Ampthill are not Saracens with their internationals. Ampthill’s Oli Morris found space to offload three times causing big line breaks, the former Worcester man is closer to the standard we will be facing week to week in the league.
Biggest test this week
Newcastle are the other undefeated team in our pool & have been selecting strong teams for the competition. It’s expected that they will come with near enough their strongest team with only former Tiger Matias Moroni & fellow Argentines Eduardo Bello, Pedro Rubiolo & Mateo Carreras absent at the Rugby World Cup. This is exactly the test we need in this semi pre-season, as the likes of Adam Radwan will test our defence far more than seen in the competition so far. The last time we played Newcastle, in January, saw the Falcons record a record win against Tigers, while also winning at Welford Road in the Premiership Cup last season.
It will be instructive to see if we have really changed our tactics or if we’ve simply found more room to run the ball against semi-pro packs.
New kit looking nice
Tigers have returned to the “heritage” green for the first time since 1999 and paired the classic shirt colour with white shorts & black socks for a full throw back look. There were some concerns at the launch about the prominence of the graphic Tiger and whether the kit strayed into the garish. But looking at them in the flesh & in action they really are fantastic.
Kids are alright
Tigers have rotated so far in this competition, using 36 players with Harry Wells, Olly Cracknell and James Cronin yet to feature, as well as the 10 players at the RWC. With the home games coming against the weaker sides we’ve been lucky to see more of the younger players up close. Finn Carnduff made his Premiership debut in the final league game of last season and continued to impress against Ampthill in both the tight & the loose, his break and offload creating the pick of last weekend’s tries. Joshua Manz was also involved in that move before his injury, both players played their junior rugby at Market Harborough.
Most likely to break into the regularly Premiership games is Emeka Ilione, more in the Lewis Moody mould than in the image of Tommy Reffell, the rangy flanker is likely to be starting the season in possession of the number 7 shirt.
Up for the cup
Following on from the Foxes fabulous win in cricket’s Metro Bank One Day Cup it’s now Tigers’ fans getting cup fever. Helped, it must be said, by the draw falling well, Tigers are now in a good position to secure a home semi-final should we be able to beat Newcastle, then follow up with a win away to Bedford in the final round of games.
Across the groups Exeter sit on 15 points, with a banker home win v London Scottish to come before a tricky trip to Bath. Gloucester are on 14 points, same as Tigers, but with a significantly inferior points difference. They travel to Hartpury this Friday where some of that deficit is sure to be clawed back but then have Coventry in the final round. Coventry beat Saracens, drew with Harlequins & know a win would see them top the group, and into a Cup Semi Final for the first time since 1985.
Ealing are top of the final group on 15 points, they have a sure home win against Cambridge this weekend before an away trip to Jersey, who beat them to the Championship title last season, to finish the pool stages.
The semi-finals will be played in February, and as well as prize money provide much needed extra home fixtures to sell to fans.
Tickets for the game versus Newcastle are on general sale from leicestertigers.com.
Words by Stuart Keene.
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