The former came in 1994 during our one amateur season in the top flight, Ross Wilkinson’s try our only consolation in a 66-5 hammering, and in the last 4 visits we have a points balance of 49:151.  One win from ten matches in Leicester is little worse than our home record against the Tigers, three wins from eleven.  However, our one victory at Welford Road came on the magical night of December 30^th 1997, as the newly promoted Newcastle took their seven-match unbeaten start to the season to Leicester on a dark Wednesday night.  No matter that we had demolished Bristol 8-50 in the South West a few days earlier, this would surely be the game that the new kids on the block learned their rightful place in rugby’s hierarchy.

Not so.  In front of 16,000 fans baying for Geordie blood (Rob Andrew later wrote “I have never known an atmosphere like it for a club match), our boys triumphed by a margin of 19-25, with two Pat Lam tries and one from Nick Popplewell adding to Rob Andrew’s penalty, drop goal and two conversions.  Our team that night, which gave us the real belief that we could win the Championship, was the first from Newcastle to win a competitive match against Leicester and was made up of: Stuart Legg, Jim Naylor, Alan Tait, Va’aiga Tuigamala, Graham Childs, Rob Andrew, Gary Armstrong, Nick Popplewell (George Graham), Ross Nesdale, Paul Van-Zandvliet, Garath Archer, Doddie Weir, Pat Lam, Richard Arnold, Dean Ryan ©.

Naylor would go on to have a short stint at Leicester a few years later.  The list of players who have played competitive rugby for both sides also includes England internationals Tony Underwood and Tim Stimpson, our current scrum-half James Grindal, and current England star and international captain Martin Corry, who played on that fateful afternoon in February 1994.

Here are all competitive games we have played against Leicester:

This weekend we undoubtedly face an uphill task against a Leicester side who have an 11-point lead at the top of the Premiership table and are unbeaten in the league since the first game of the season, when they went down to Sale in Stockport.  Apart from a 16-16 draw with Bath in October, they have won the rest of their seven home matches so far, most recently a 32-17 victory over Harlequins on January 29^th, with tries from Austin Healey and Henry Tuilagi, both converted, and topped off with six Andy Goode penalties.  Healey and Goode were both on target in the Tigers’ 6-6 draw at Bath two weeks ago too, with a drop goal and penalty respectively.

Leicester have a most formidable squad.  Just look at their lineup against Bath – Sam Vesty, John Holtby, Ollie Smith, Daryl Gibson, Healey, Goode, Scott Bemand, Michael Holford, George Chuter, Darren Morris, Martin Johnson, Louis Deacon, Tuilagi, Neil Back, Will Johnson.  Against Quins they fielded Geordan Murphy, Leon Lloyd and current England internationals Harry Ellis, Graham Rowntree and Ben Kay.  The squad oozes quality, even before we mention other internationals Julian White, Martin Corry and Lewis Moody.

We clearly will have to be on the ball on Saturday to get anything out of the game.  Leicester, like ourselves, have qualified for the quarter finals of the European Cup, and will travel to Lansdowne Road to play Leinster.  The Tigers hope to regain the crown they won twice in the early years of the new millennium, however, they only scraped through ironically as a pool runner up thanks to our and Edinburgh’s last day victories.

However, on the plus side, we will have Mathew Tait, Jamie Noon and Stuart Grimes available after the internationals and David Walder is approaching full fitness too, to add to the side which defeated Wasps by such a slender margin in our last match.  We must look to reproducing that performance, rather than the Nightmare of Watford in our last away game, and a lot more to have any chance of getting something from Leicester, who are still the only side to beat us at Kingston Park this season.  But anything is possible in sport.

The Leicester side:

15 Sam Vesty
14 Leon Lloyd
13 Ollie Smith
12 Daryl Gibson
11 Austin Healey
10 Andy Goode
9 Scott Bemand
1 Graham Rowntree
2 George Chuter
3 Darren Morris
4 Martin Johnson (captain)
5 Louis Deacon
6 Henry Tuilagi
7 Neil Back
8 Martin Corry

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