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Featured Sport News

Leicester Tigers braced for glory

Author: Sir David Smith
Date: 14/05/2009

Leicester Tigers are strong favourites with the sportsbooks to take the Guinness Premiership title when they face London Irish this weekend.

The Welford Road outfit are in their fifth final in a row and will be chasing a second title in three years, while the Exiles will be experiencing a whole new stage for their club at Twickenham.

They will be boosted by the knowledge that Leicester have stumbled at the final hurdle on three occasions, having lost twice to Wasps and once to Sale Sharks.

Both sides enjoyed a surprisingly comfortable passage at the semi-finals stage, with Leicester winning 24-10 against Bath at the Walkers Stadium, while the Irish recorded a superb 17-0 win at Harlequins.

Tigers' head coach Richard Cockerill has done a superb job in his first few months in charge, having stepped in to fill the gap left by Heyneke Meyer's departure for South Africa in November.

A modest Cockerill admitted: "My greatest achievement this season has been preventing it from going belly-up.

"We weren't in trouble but we were in fifth or sixth place and everybody's going 'the pressure is on you'. I thought 'thanks for that' and got on with it.

"You make big calls and hope they're right. By and large it has worked out so far.

"I suppose things have worked out better than I expected, but we have good players."

Key to Cockerill's gameplans are a rugged pack of forwards in which England's Tom Croft is the standout performer - with Cockerill surprised that his man missed out on a place in the British Lions squad to tour South Africa.

Julian Dupuy is capable of the odd moment of magic at scrum-half, while Sam Vesty is a steady reliable force at fly-half.

London Irish have surprised many pundits with their consistent success this season and that is of great credit to coach Toby Booth and his squad, which includes few big names.

The Exiles do have the man for all occasions among their ranks however, with veteran Mike Catt inspirational in the semi-final triumph over Quins, despite his advancing years.

The England World Cup winner may well call time on his illustrious career after this game and would dearly love to go out on yet another high note.

Apart from Catt, brothers Steffon and Delon Armiatge are the main men for Booth's side, with the England duo undoubtedly among the brightest talents in the domestic game.

However, another key man, England lock forward Nick Kennedy, is a major doubt due to a knee injury and his absence would represent a major blow to Booth's plans.

The head-to-head record of the sides in the regular season gives Leicester another edge, with the Tigers having won both home and away against the Exiles.

However, those two wins came by two and three points respectively, pointing the way to a tense evening at Twickenham this Saturday.

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