Now that the Gallagher Premiership fixtures have been announced it is time to look ahead and preview what the upcoming season will look like for Leicester Tigers. New competition formats and a Rugby World Cup taking place at the start of the club season means that there is a lot to break down.
Revamped Prem Cup (Sep-Oct)
All three competitions have changed in some form from last season. The Premiership Rugby Cup group stage will take place during September and October, coinciding with the pool stages of the World cup. An exciting change in this edition of the competition is the inclusion of teams from the Championship. In this year’s competition there are 4 pools with the winners of each pool progressing to the semi-finals later in the season.
After a friendly against Nottingham, the Premiership cup starts at home to Championship side Caldy on 9th September. Tigers also play two fellow Premiership sides during the group stage. In round 2 Tigers face an away trip to Sale Sharks and in round 4 will play Newcastle Falcons at home. The group stage is completed with ties against Championship sides, Ampthill at home in round 3 and Bedford Blues away in round 5.
These matches will act as a pre-season for the Gallagher Premiership starting in October. Dan Mckellar and the new coaching team will be able to start implementing their game plan and take a look at the squad with the internationals away at the World Cup. It also provides an opportunity for some of the younger players to step up and increase competition within the squad.
Prem begins & ‘Pool of Death’ (Oct-Jan)
The Gallagher Premiership will be contested by only 10 teams in the 23/24 season after the collapse of London Irish. With a strong squad Tigers will be looking to achieve a top 2 finish to secure a home semi-final and win back the Premiership from rivals Saracens.
Tigers begin the Premiership season away to Bristol Bears on Friday 13th October. Tigers have a relatively tough start with a home game next against Sale, who beat Tigers in all 3 Prem games last season including the Semi Final. This is followed by away trips to Bath and Saracens. The first East Midlands derby against Northampton Saints will take place in round 6 at Welford Road and Tigers will be looking to set the record straight after the home defeat last season.
Heading into December, Tigers start their Heineken Champions Cup campaign and have been drawn in the group labelled as the ‘Pool of death’. Alongside fellow English side Sale Sharks, Tigers will face the finalists from the previous 2 years of the competition in La Rochelle (winning the last two finals and described by the French media as ‘the juggernaut’) and the runners up in the last finals, the Irish province, Leinster. In addition, they will face the leading South African franchise the Stormers and French side Stade Français.
Tigers fans will have an exciting trip to Paris on 17th December and an equally exciting trip in January to La Rochelle for the first time to play at the Stade Marcel Delflandre; a fortress renowned across Europe for sell-out crowds and hostile atmosphere. Tigers will welcome the Stormers to Welford road in round 1 on 10th December and end the group stage at home to Leinster on 20th January, 6 days after the La Rochelle match.
With 4 out of the 6 teams progressing to the round of 16 there is still reason to be optimistic about Tigers chances despite the tough draw. Last season the Stormers did not perform well away from home and with games in South Africa around the time they play Tigers, they may opt to leave some of their frontline players back home in Cape Town. Winning away in France is always a challenge but with the squad Tigers have assembled they are capable of winning in Paris like they have shown in previous years against Clermont and Bordeaux.
The last two rounds provide a great opportunity for Tigers to test themselves against the best teams in Europe. Tigers will be aiming to claim a memorable victory, especially against Leinster who have beaten Tigers in both of the previous 2 seasons at the quarter final stage. Two wins along with some bonus points should be enough to secure qualification. Performing well in this group will give Tigers confidence against any team they face in the knockout rounds.
This period is completed with Premiership festive fixtures away to Exeter Chiefs on 23rd December and Bath at home on New Year’s Eve. Saracens at home and Harlequins away on either side of the huge Champions Cup battles in January are the last games before a mid-season break.
End of Season Run-in (Mar-Jun)
With no games scheduled to take place during the Six nations (Feb/Mar), Tigers next competitive match is at home to Gloucester towards the end of March. That is unless Tigers make the semi-finals of the Prem cup which are due to take place in February with the final in March. Tigers may look to arrange some friendlies during this break like they did last season against Northampton.
The return fixture of the East Midlands derby at Franklin’s gardens will take place in April after some Champions cup knockout action. The Premiership regular season concludes with games away to Sale and at home to Exeter in the last two rounds.
Predictions
I’m positive about how Tigers will perform this year with the squad and new coaching team. I predict that Tigers will secure a home semi-final in the Prem. A home semi-final is crucial as we saw last season how difficult it is to win away from home. Tigers will have to be able to manage this without any bye-weeks because they should also be competing in the knockout stages of the Champions Cup.
If all goes to plan, hopefully Tigers’ fans will be travelling down to London for two finals at the end of the season. The Champions cup final is on 25th May at the impressive Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and the Premiership final is at Twickenham on 8th June.
You can view the full fixture list on the Leicester Tigers website.
Words by Amrik Gill.
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