Going out of the Challenge Cup on Friday night was completely predictable considering we were on such a bad run, and as a club had not even bothered with our last league outing at Sale (although thankfully the team picked tried their best), but now with nothing to play for, lets hope the boys just go out, relax, and play some of the good rugby we are often promised but haven’t seen at KP since Sale back in September.

Our last run of seven league losses came in November 2002-January 2003, and the game that broke it was a crucial win over Harlequins to help us close the gap at the bottom of the table.  A tense 24-22 win over Leicester in March 2003 helped us avoid relegation, and keep up a record against the Tigers at KP which isn’t that bad.

In the Premiership, we have met our Midlands visitors ten times, and lost only three times, in 1998/99, 2000/01 and 2004/05.  Two draws in 1999/2000 and 2003/04 are interspersed in amongst five wins, and Leicester have only one win in their last six visits to KP.

The equivalent match last January was an extremely tense affair, with penalties sending the lead to and fro in the dying seconds, and Leicester having a last second scrum on our line.  Lee Dickson delayed bringing the ball out before giving Toby Flood a hospital pass.

With a defender on top of him, Flood kicked behind, and though the referee tried to give a penalty, the right decision, a scrum, signalled a 31-29 win for us to follow a 24-16 victory in February 2006.

Whilst we have nothing to play for but pride and deciding whether we finish ninth, tenth or eleventh, Leicester are in desperate need of a win this Sunday due to their position of sixth in the league, two points behind Wasps and Harlequins in third and fourth and point behind Sale.

With Wasps coming to KP on Wednesday and likely to face a Falcons reserve side, the Tigers will be looking to beat us to give them the best possible chance of a fourth successive Premiership final and retaining their title, with a victory at home to Quins on the last day.

They have already lost one title this season, losing the EDF Energy Cup final at Twickenham recently in a repeat of last season’s final against Ospreys 23-6, whilst any hope of winning the Heineken Cup after a 2007 final defeat to Wasps were dashed in the pool stages by defeats at Leinster, Toulouse and Edinburgh.

So in sixth place, it has been a relatively poor season for Leicester in the league, with eight losses so far.  Gloucester, Sale and Wasps have all won at Welford Road in the Premiership this season, and Leicester’s away form has been patchy by their standards, though we would be happy with it.

Ominously, apart from Leeds, their other wins on the road came at Bristol, Wasps, Harlequins and Gloucester.  Leicester’s most recent away trip was to Bath on Tuesday April 15^th, when the south-westerners continued a playoff charge of their own, prevailing 26-12.

Last Saturday however the Tiggers returned to winning ways against Bath’s bitter rivals Bristol at Welford Road, with a 32-14 bonus point victory thanks to a penalty try and scores from All Black Aaron Mauger, Ben Herring, and former England pair Tom Varndell and Andy Goode.

Since we are all depressed rugby-wise at the moment, I’m not going to go through Leicester’s star-studded squad, the team below will be bad enough.

Jonny Wilkinson is in the Falcons team despite needing an operation, and with Jamie Noon and Toby Flood injured Tom Dillon and Tim Visser are in the centres.  An injury to Mark Sorenson sees Andy Buist in the second row, the back row place going to Geoff Parling.

15 Mathew Tait
14 Tom May
13 Tom Dillon
12 Tim Visser
11 John Rudd
10 Jonny Wilkinson
9 James Grindal
1 Jon Golding
2 Andy Long
3 Carl Hayman
4 Andy Perry
5 Andy Buist
6 Geoff Parling
7 Ben Woods
8 Phil Dowson (captain)

Replacements:
16 Rob Vickers
17 David Wilson
18 Ross Beattie
19 Russell Winter
20 Ed Williamson
21 Hall Charlton
22 Ollie Phillips

Leicester are captained by former Gosforth flanker and ex-England skipper Martin Corry, whilst Dillon and Visser will receive a searching examination by Dan Hipkiss and Aaron Mauger.  Martin Castrogiovanni vs Carl Hayman is already an eagerly-awaited encounter, but wherever you look this is a quality side.  We are in for a hard game on Sunday.

15 Geordan Murphy

14 Tom Varndell
13 Dan Hipkiss
12 Aaron Mauger
11 Alesana Tuilagi
10 Andy Goode
9 Harry Ellis
1 Martin Castrogiovanni
2 Benjamin Kayser
3 Julian White
4 Marco Wentzel
5 Ben Kay
6 Martin Corry (c)
7 Tom Croft
8 Jordan Crane

Replacements
16 Mefin Davies
17 Marcos Ayerza
18 Richard Blaze
19 Brett Deacon
20 Christophe Laussucq
21 Sam Vesty
22 Ayoola Erinle

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