6th Sense for Nottingham

6 Tigers are in Championship action this weekend as Nottingham take on Leeds at Headingley.  Leeds are 4th and need a win to secure a Play Off berth whilst Nottingham, in the week they announced they £250,000 to stay in business, have secured 2nd place and avoid Newcastle in the Semi Finals.

Alex Lewington and Jonny Harris both start after formerly announcing that they will be playing their rugby for London Irish next season and they are joined in the first XV by Ryan Bower and Harrison Lee-Everton.  Lee-Everton is the 13th Tigers player to feature on loan in the Championship this season.

Tom Price and Andy Forsyth are both named on the replacements bench to round out the 6.  Another 5 players in the match day squad have previously been on the books at Tigers.

London Irish's Alex Gray who will transfer to full time 7s next season is also named in the side. 

Nottingham Rugby:
15 David Jackson 
14 Alex Lewington 
13 Joe Cobden 
12 Joe Munro
11 Rhys Crane 
10 Rory Lynn 
9 Harrison Lee-Everton
1 Jonny Harris 
2 Joe Duffey 
3 Ryan Bower 
4 Dan Montagu
5 Joe Quinn 
6 Rupert Cooper 
7 Tom Calladine 
8 Alex Gray.
Replacements:
16 Shaun Malton 
17 Michael Holford 
18 Tom Price 
19 Phil Eggleshaw
20 Sean Romans 
21 James Arlidge 
22 Andy Forsyth.

Tigers Team to Pull Plug on Bath's European Hopes

Leicester Tigers travel down to Bath needing just 3 points from their remaining two games to secure a 5th straight home game in the Premiership semi finals.  If Quins fail to beat either Worcester or Northampton that tie is already sealed regardless of our results.  Bath are in the midst of a battle for qualification for what could be the last ever Heineken Cup, they sit one point behind Exeter in 6th and one point ahead of Wasp in 8th with Wasps playing host to the Chiefs on Sunday Bath can either strike clear of the Londoners or claim 6th ahead of the Devonians depending on results.  

Tigers make 5 changes to the side that romped home against Wasps last Sunday, Tom Youngs, Tom Croft and Geoff Parling were due to start that match but pulled out after failing "late fitness tests", not that the plan all along was to rest them oh no.  The other changes see Steve Mafi start at lock for the first time since Ulster away in January 2012 when Tigers suffered their biggest ever European defeat whilst Matt Smith takes up on the wing as Niall Morris misses out on the match day squad altogether.  Thomas Waldrom is rotated in for last week's Sky Man of the Match Jordan Crane.

On the bench club captain Geordan Murphy returns to the match day squad for the first time since his heroic performance against Saracens in February.  He is joined by Dan Bowden who has struggled for game time since his summer move from London Irish and is being linked in the press with a move to Sale.

I very much like this selection; it is an imaginative use of the squad and solutions to some of our problems: both Mafi and Croft need game time to recover from their injuries before the play offs, if both are fit how can we fit them into out side at the same time? Where can we slot Matt Smith into side given Manu and Allen have the centre berths locked solid? Is it really wise to have Harrison and Ford both on the bench when both only give us any cover in one position, and we will never tactically sub the starters either? Can we really go into the Play Offs with Geordan Murphy having not played for 2 months?

Tuilagi is set to make his 60th appearance for the first team with Tom Youngs to make 50 should he not fail another "fitness test".  Adam Thompstone will make his 20th start in The Stripes.

Bath make 4 changes to the side that lead Champions Harlequins at half time before surrendering to not even a bonus point defeat at the Stoop as Ben Williams, Rob Webber, Dom Day and Guy Mercer come into the side.  Williams plays at outside centre as the British Army's Semesa Rokoduguni moves to the wing.  Webber takes over at hooker and Day locks out the scrum.  Mercer replaces Mat Gilbert at openside.  

Former Tigers favourite Horacio Agulla will wear the Blue, Black and White of Bath as he lines up on the left wing as he looks to prove Richard Cockerill wrong for not renewing his deal last summer.  

Also of note is Bath's decision to go with a 6-2 forwards to backs split on the bench.  Bath chose to select young lock Will Spencer alongside the more established Mat Gilbert, ex-Llanelli, and Nick Koster the South African flanker.  The back line cover is provided by "Peanut" Peter Stringer and Tom "Jock" Heathcote, as Bath showing their hand with their bench or is it just a double bluff?  Or perhaps an insurance policy should Francois Louw fancy trying to break Geordan Murphy's nose again?  Only Gary Gold knows.

Tomorrow's referee is Hull's own Tim Wigglesworth who of course also refereed the return fixture at Welford Road where Bath's foul play drew two red cards, a yellow and a further citing for Lee Mears, now unfortunately retired with a heart problem.  I seem to say this every week but the RFU's seeming tactic of selecting the same referee for both games between two clubs is very foolish, especially when the first meeting was so controversial.  Should Louw try his thuggery again will the referee's mind be obscured by the citing commission's over turning his last fully justified red card on a technicality?  Will he perhaps be the other way and remembering Matt Banahn's litany of high tackle in the last match be over harsh on a Bath player with a high tackle?  We might be short of decent referee's in this country but surely we have enough to nip this sort of conspiracy theorising in the bud, rather than provide it with ample supplies of fresh manure? 

The game is live on ESPN with a kick off at Bath's traditional time of 2.15.  Despite Bath playing a predominantly blue home shirt Tigers will apparently wear, thankfully for the last time, the "Baltic" blue away shirt.  What is wrong with giving the green tiger stripes effect shirt a final fling is beyond me, especially as surely these two blue kits will clash more than blue v green?  After all internationally Italy change their shirts to face Scotland not Ireland.  

Leicester Tigers
15 Mathew Tait
14 Matt Smith
13 Manu Tuilagi
12 Anthony Allen
11 Adam Thompstone
10 Toby Flood (c)
9 Ben Youngs
1 Logovi'i Mulipola
2 Tom Youngs
3 Dan Cole
4 Steve Mafi
5 Geoff Parling
6 Tom Croft
7 Julian Salvi
8 Thomas Waldrom
Replacements
16 Rob Hawkins
17 Fraser Balmain
18 Martin Castrogiovanni
19 Ed Slater
20 Jordan Crane
21 Sam Harrison
22 Dan Bowden
23 Geordan Murphy

Bath Rugby
15 Ollie Devoto
14 Semesa Rokoduguni
13 Ben Williams
12 Kyle Eastmond
11 Horacio Agulla
10 Stephen Donald
9 Michael Claassens
1 Paul James
2 Rob Webber
3 David Wilson
4 Dominic Day
5 Dave Attwood
6 Francois Louw ( c )
7 Guy Mercer
8 Simon Taylor
Replacements
16 Eusebio Guinazu
17 Nathan Catt
18 Anthony Perenise
19 Will Spencer
20 Mat Gilbert
21 Nick Koster
22 Peter Stringer
23 Tom Heathcote

Front Row Double at Players' Player of the Year Awards

The Front Row Union celebrated a double victory last night as Tom Youngs was voted as Players' Player of the Year and Fraser Balmain won the Players' Young Player of Year. 

Hooker Tom Youngs has played 20 times for the first team this season (including pre-season friendlies against Nottingham and Ulster) and will make his 50th first appearance since his 2006 debut in his next game.  

Youngs was an age grade international center only transferring to the hooking berth on the suggestion of Heyneke Meyer in 2008.  He then spent the best part of 3 season on loan at Midlands rivals Nottingham playing 42 games as he learned his craft in England's second tier.

Last season he didn't start a Premiership game but featured off the bench in the Final against Harlequins and was called up to England's tour to South Africa where he started both mid week matches.  Going from strength to strength after that tour Tom secured the starting shirt for Tigers first game of the season, away to London Welsh, where he set up a try for Thomas Waldrom.  

Injuries to others gave him his chance in an England shirt and after only 9 starts in either league or Europe for Leicester he was lining up at Twickenham for his England debut against Fiji, starts against Australia and South Africa followed before Youngs started in England's record win against the All Blacks.  He was an ever present in the 6 Nations and now has 9 caps with 8 of them starts.

Fraser Balmain is a 21 year old from Newcastle comfortable on either side of the scrum.  He came off the bench twice last season before spending a month in Clermont-Ferrand as part of the two clubs Academy Exchange programme.  This period seems to have helped Balmain kick on as he has over taken other young props first to start regularly for the A League side and then to make his Premiership debut against Exeter in September.

It was Balmain's first start that really caught the eye though as he impressed in both the scrum and the lose during the win against the touring New Zealand Maori side, their first loss for 5 years.  His first Premiership start was 12 days later against Wasps at Adams Park and though the result was not what was wanted young Balmain reinforced his burgeoning reputation.

At 17 Newcastle decided they didn't want to offer Balmain a professional deal, so his coach at the city's Royal Grammar School sent off his highlights DVD to both Leicester and Northampton; Saints offered a 3 month deal but Tigers risked a full year and have been amply rewarded.

5 Star Tigers Secure Play Off Spot

Tigers secured their 9^th successive Premiership semi final courtesy of a 5 try bonus point trashing of a lacklustre Wasps side that slide out of the Heineken Cup qualification places.  Tigers tries came from a Ben Youngs brace, Graham Kitchener, Rob Hawkins and Adam Thompstone.  Wasps try was a consolation solo effort from Elliot Daly when the match as a contest was already over.

Tigers made three “late” changes, definitely not pre planned early in the week, as Steve Mafi, Graham Kitchener and Rob Hawkins replaced Tom Croft, Geoff Parling and Tom Youngs.  This made four changes from the side defeated in Toulon and a nice amount of rotation.

Billy Vunipola continued where he left off in the last Tigers Wasps game giving away the first kickable penalty after 8 minutes as he lazily flopped over the ball.  Luckily for the Saracens bound bruiser the strong wind coming over the Crumbie blew it off course with a mighty gust.  The wind was playing havoc with the kickers in the warm up and caught Flood more than once today.

Vunipola was again the culprit as Flood pushed Tigers to 3-0 on 13 minutes.  The number 8 dummied and went from a defensive ruck with no support and the Milton Keynes Mountain swallowed him whole, referee Doyle judging Vunipola to be holding on under pressure from Ed Slater.  The wind tried its trickery again but this time Flood was wise to it and snuck the ball inside the right hand post.

Flood’s second penalty came from a very harsh call from referee Doyle; Nicky Robinson was ruled to have deliberately knocked the ball on when his attempted interception was unsuccessful.  The ball barely went forward at all and Robinson’s only contact with it was to tip it up to try and make a juggling catch.  Quite who has told referees that interceptions are to be penalised out of the game is beyond me as all we are left with is players getting cards for doing little more than having eyes bigger than their bellies whilst wanton thuggery goes unpunished. 

Tigers’ first try came from a lucky break as Ben Youngs’s clearing box gained the thinnest of touches from a Wasps hand gaining Tigers a line out well within their enemy’s territory.   Tony Allen made yet another yard gaining carry through the midfield traffic before Mat Tait switched the play from left to right freeing Steve Mafi; the Tongan Octopuss used his flowing limbs to off load to Niall Morris coming like a steam train on his left.  Morris took the ball to the 5 metre line and Mafi took the ball up a further few metres before Flood put Hawkins to a yard out in the corner of the CAT stand.  Scrum half Charlie Davies had taken up his position guarding the left hand flank of the ruck but the merest hint of a look to the blindside made him shift round to the other side; that opened the hole for his opposite number Ben Youngs to dive through the gap and claim the first try of the match. 

Tigers struck again just 4 minutes later as Graham Kitchener brushed off Christian Wade’s poor attempt at a tackle to finish off a stunning phase of play.  Tigers had controlled the ball from a line out well enough gaining yards slowly and surely before Ben Youngs span the ball out to that man again Tony Allen who ghosted between Jon Poff and Charlie Hayter before finding Niall Morris with a beauty of a pass of his left hand.  Morris bounced back inside link a pin ball before popping the ball out of the tackle back to Ben Youngs.  Youngs threw a perhaps ill advised floated pass back 15 yards to Julian Salvi who fed his back row partners Jordan Crane and Steve Mafi.  Mafi’s pass to Kitchener was a stunner fizzing off his right hand cutting out two defenders before the burley lock trampled over the ineffectual Wade and ignored the attempts of Tommy Bell to force him into touch.

Wasps’ first points came from a soft penalty given away by Kitchener around the half way.  It was a tight call to say he was in the side but Tommy Bell made light of the wind to punish the try scorer’s mistake and raise the flags with little fuss.

Tigers could have had a third try in the 30^th minute as a glorious move was snuffed out right at the end as Adam Thompstone was forced into touch as he grounded the ball; the referee went to the TMO but that was fairly inconclusive.  One angle ruled his legs were in play but who could tell whether the ball hit the line of his arm was in touch first?  The TMO ruled simultaneous and no try.

It didn’t matter though as the third try was quick in coming.  Rob Hawkins was forced into touch just short and managed to slip the ball to Tom Varndell as he was dragged out to touch so Tigers threw in.  Wasps blitzed the lineout drive and rocked Tigers but the pack held firm and the Wasps onslaught washed around our sides.  As the last of them slipped harmlessly by the drive was set and Tigers charged for the line.  Referee Doyle had no hesitation in awarding the try as Rob Hawkins was cast in the Neil Back role and let his mates work his try for him.

Charlie Hayter was lucky to stay on the field at the end of the half as the referee missed his ugly rake across Toby Flood’s face in a ruck.  When you sign players to the big boy league they have to expect big boy scrutiny, Hayter isn’t playing in a muddy park anymore and that kind of thing might be okay for Moseley but it isn’t in the big leagues.  He can count his lucky stars that he isn’t a Frenchman in the Heineken Cup.  Predictably the referee did see Flood’s reaction to the interference though so Wasps gained another 3 points as the final act of the half.

At half time Thomas Waldrom replaced Steve Mafi who played superbly on his comeback but was clearly still uncomfortable with his hamstrings and Martin Castrogiovanni replaced Dan Cole in a simple swap.

Another deliberate knock on from Wasps another penalty, though this one did go forwards and was much closer to being deliberate again though the referee dealt with him harshly as Tom Bell was sent to the sin bin for his indiscretion.  Tigers as is their wont took a scrum and after a quick attempt at the drive used Crane off the base.  The majestic Jordan help flanker Jon Poff for just a second before releasing Ben Youngs but a second was all he needed as he put on the after-burners and sprinted between Poff and Tom’s brother Chris Bell.

Job done as Ben Youngs was replaced by Sam Harrison and Matt Smith took the place of Anthony Allen.

Billy Vunipola was lucky not see red for his vicious hack down of Manu Tuilagi.  No arms were anywhere near the tackle as Vunipola targeted Tuilagi’s knees, both the NFL and rugby league have clamped down on this most dangerous of tackles and Rugby has the wrapping of the arm rule already in place to ban it; but Doyle was blind to the thuggery and dangerous play of the Wasps man and shockingly not even a penalty was given.  Later in the match Joe Simpson was to target Tuilagi too, perhaps a tactic to try and incite the Hinckley man’s volcanic temper? 

The Wasps pack was on top for a spell earning their side a penalty at a scrum then from a maul.  Elliot Daly was on hand, with Tom Bell in the bin, to slot the penalty over from more than 40 yards.

Tigers were back in the ascendency though as Waldrom saw the Wasps defence part around him as he charged through the midfield.  The ball was kept alive through Salvi and Mulipola but the move fizzled out as Flood’s hopeful chip through ran into touch.

Ed Slater though was having none of that and his mighty mitt pawed the ball back onto the Leicester side in the lineout.  Crane then Tuilagi took the ball into contact left and right of the posts before a midfield fumble from Castro went backwards and was swept up by Sam Harrison and went through Flood’s then Slater’s hands before Mat Tait popped up on the left wing to fix the final defender and send Adam Thompstone clear to the line.

A bit of ballet dancing down the dead ball line meant the try was referred to the TMO but all was in order and Tigers had their 5^th try of the match and 74^th try of the season.

All that was left was a consolation try for Elliot Daly as he danced inside Adam Thompstone as Sam Harrison was a touch too close to his inside man and a touch too far from Thompstone on his outside.  It was a cracking try but it was symptomatic of the low intensity of the second half as Tigers just stood watching without it really mattering. 

Wasps had a few more ineffectual attacks as they were arguably their own worst enemy with inaccurate attacking and sloppy unforced knock ons.  Charlie Hayter showed why he is probably better suited to the Championship as he dillied and dallied and let the inside defence tackle him rather than float a ball out to Varndell in acres of space.  When you have the man only a handful short of the league’s scoring record I would suggest giving him the ball 10 meters from the line might be a bit of an idea.

Just a thought.

The match ended on a bit of a sour note as Wasps, sore from the beating they had just taken, decided that the old maxim of “If we can’t win the match win the fight” needed a new airing.  Tigers played into their hands somewhat by not kicking the ball out and not taking a backwards step.  Simon McIntyre threw two punches at Fraser Balmain after being tackled legally yet the Wasps man somehow got the penalty.  McIntyre’s response was grossly disproportionate; quite what the TMO was watching is beyond me to miss those punches.   Joe Simpson then stamps on Manu Tuilagi’s head and continues his fight after the final whistle.

Tigers were simply the better team in almost every facet and will be glad that they didn’t rise to the Wasps bait late on in the game.  Ed Slater and Graham Kitchener were magnificent in the second row as was Jordan Crane at 8.  Anthony Allen took the Wasps midfield to school and taught them a lesson and whilst Toby Flood might have had an off day with his boot he was the leader throughout and superb in open play.

Tigers move on to Bath next week and London Irish two weeks after requiring only 3 points from the two games to secure an 8^th Welford Road Premiership Semi final; on this form that should be achieved with something to spare.

4 Tigers to Face Pirates this Sunday

Tom Price makes his return to action this weekend after being named on the bench for promotion chasing Nottingham as they face Cornish Pirates live on Sky tomorrow lunch time.  

Price was making his debut for the Leicester first team when he went down at an innocuous looking ruck.  With the game not being recorded for TV it is still something of a mystery what happened next; but the result of it was Price being unconscious on the pitch for 10 minutes, requiring oxygen and being stretchered straight into the Infirmary.

It is remarkable that it is only 11 weeks later and he is back in action.  Tigers opponents that day were Wasps, the poet in me wishes he was named on our bench not Nottingham's but I'll take my victories where I find them.

Alex Lewington is set to start his 12th game of the season for the Green 'n' Whites and is joined by Jonny Harris making his 4th start at loosehead prop.  The pair have been heavily linked with leaving Tigers in the summer to join up with former Nottingham coach Glenn Delaney at London Irish.  The other edge of the Dual Registration sword. 

The 4th member of this motley crew is Ryan Bower who will join Price on the bench.  Bower is a regular in the Nottingham match day squad and is looking to make his 17th appearance in the Championship this season. 

A further seven of the Nottingham side have played for Tigers at either First XV, Extras or Academy level.

Nottingham
15 Andrew Savage 
14 Alex Lewington  
13 Tim Streather 
12 Joe Munro 
11 Rhys Crane 
10 James Arlidge 
9 Sean Romans
1 Jonny Harris 
2 Joe Duffey 
3 Michael Holford 
4 Dan Montagu 
5 Nic Rouse 
6 Rupert Cooper 
7 Brent Wilson (c) 
8 Alex Shaw.
Replacements
16 Shaun Malton 
17 Ryan Bower 
18 Tom Price 
19 Tom Calladine 
20 Finlay Barnham 
21 Joe Cobden 
22 David Jackson.

Logo slots in for Tigers

Tigers and Wasps return to domestic action after their European adventures last week.  Tigers of course were away to Toulon in the main event Heineken Cup on Sunday whilst Wasps hosted Leinster in the second tier Amlin on Friday night.  

Tigers make one enforced changed for the side that lost 21-15 in Toulon as Logovi'i Mulipola replaces the injured Marcos Ayerza at loosehead, Fraser Balmain moving onto the bench.  Cockerill was furious at the challenge from Bakkies Botha that resulted in Ayerza's broken collarbone but ERC, and myself it must be said, didn't see a red card challenge just a man going for the line.

Otherwise Tigers are unchanged from the side that defeated Northampton and Exeter in their last two league games as Dan Cole is preferred to the apparently departing Martin Castrogiovanni and Jordan Crane presides over the base of the scrum ahead of Thomas "the Tank" Waldrom as Crane makes his 150th appearance for the first team since his 2006 debut against Gloucester.

At hooker Tom Youngs makes his 50th appearance for the first team since his December 2006 debut at outside centre away to Northampton and Julian Salvi makes his 50th start in his second season at the club.

Wasps in contrast make 7 changes from their 48-28 demolition from Leinster.  5 changes come in the pack as Tom Lindsay, Will Taylor, James Cannon, son of Saints legend Vince, Jonathan Poff and Billy Vunipola replace T. Rhys Thomas, Phil Swainston, ex-Tiger Marco Wentzel, Sam Jones and England 6 Nations ace Joe Launchbury.  Launchbury and Italy centre Andrea Masi are apparently rested because of heavy work loads!  I don't think they'll be getting any sympathy from Tom Youngs or Geoff Parling on that front!

In the backs in-season-signing from Moseley Charlie Hayter takes Masi's place at 12 whilst former Nottingham and Stade Francais half back Charlie Davies takes over from Joe Simpson in the 9 jersey. 

Wasps are 7th one point behind Bath in 6th and one ahead of Exeter in 8th.  It seems to me they are resting players in anticipation of their 8 pointer at home to the Chiefs next week and hoping that Bath's tough run in (Quins Away, Tigers Home, Saracens Away) knackers their hopes.  That is a risky game should Bath overcome Quins today and Wasps lose at Welford Road as then Tigers and Sarries would be secure in their home semi finals before they play Bath.

On the play off front; after Gloucester's loss last night Tigers need one point to secure a play off place for the 9th year in a row and require 8 points from the remaining games in the season to secure an 8th Welford Raod semi if Quins achieve a perfect 15/15.  A Quins loss to any of Bath, Worcester or Northampton will see Tigers at home with a single victory.

Tomorrow's referee is London based Dubliner JP Doyle.  Tigers have a terrific record with Doyle in charge winning 10 of the 12 games he has blown although we did lose the most recent of those 12 when he was in charge of Saracen's most recent victory at Welford Road.

The game is live on Sky Sports 2, programme starts at 3.30 and the kick off is at 3.45.  This will be the last time Tigers play in the "bib" effect design as they will be wearing the new kit in the final game of the season at home to London Irish.
 
Leicester Tigers
15 Mathew Tait
14 Niall Morris
13 Manu Tuilagi
12 Anthony Allen
11 Adam Thompstone
10 Toby Flood (c)
9 Ben Youngs
1 Logovi'i Mulipola
2 Tom Youngs
3 Dan Cole
4 Ed Slater
5 Geoff Parling
6 Tom Croft
7 Julian Salvi
8 Jordan Crane
Replacements
16 Rob Hawkins
17 Fraser Balmain
18 Martin Castrogiovanni
19 Graham Kitchener
20 Thomas Waldrom
21 Sam Harrison
22 George Ford
23 Matt Smith

London Wasps
15 Elliot Daly
14 Christian Wade
13 Chris Bell (c)
12 Charlie Hayter
11 Tom Varndell
10 Nick Robinson
9 Charlie Davies
1 Zak Taulafo
2 Tom Lindsay
3 Will Taylor
4 James Cannon
5 Tom Palmer
6 Ashley Johnson
7 Jonathan Poff
8 Billy Vunipola
Replacements
16 Nathan Morris
17 Simon McIntyre
18 Lorenzo Romano
19 Alex Rae
20 Matt Everard
21 Joe Simpson
22 Tommy Bell
23 Jack Wallace

Same Again for QF Test

Tigers name an unchanged side as they head to the Mediterranean port city of Toulon this Sunday for our 11th Heineken Cup Quarter Final in 16 season.  

Richard Cockerill has kept faith in the side that won narrowly away to Exeter and pulverised Northampton at the Gardens.  Mat Tait, Niall Morris and Adam Thompstone make up the back three with the Awesome Foursome of Youngs-Flood-Allen-Tuilagi making up the midfield.  

Up front Dan Cole keeps out want away prop forward Martin Castrogiovanni, whilst Tom Youngs is fit to play after coming off last weekend in the first half with a shoulder injury.  Argentinian Marcos Ayerza rounds out the trio.  Leicester born Ed Slater teams up with Geoff Parling in the second row while partners in crime Jordan Crane and Tom Croft are joined by Australian Julian Salvi.

For the third week in a row Toby Flood is named as captain in the absence of Louis Deacon and Geordan Murphy, and in a fantastic sub plot to the match not only is he facing mentor Jonny Wilkinson for the first time but St. Jonny also captains his side from fly half.  

Wilkinson is joined by 4 other English players and another 3 ex-Premiership players in the Toulon side.  The English contingent is "glass jaw" prop Andrew Sheridan and former London Irish trio Nick Kennedy plus Delon and Steffon Armitage.  Juan Fernandez Lobbe and Sebastian Bruno, who were part of Sale's Champion team, are joined by former Falcon Carl Hayman.

Toulon have also signed some of the best talent from the Top 14 with Stade Francais' Mathieu Bastareaud, Brive's Alexis Palisson, Castres duo Sebastian Tilous-Borde and Chris Masoe all starting and former Perpignan centre Maxime Mermoz, who was a pivotal figure as the Catalans drew at Welford Road in 2010, only making the bench.  

Also on Toulon's bench is Six Nations Championship winning captain Gethin Jenkins and 52 times capped South African Joe van Niekerk.  In the week Cockerill called Toulon "rockstars", well I'm not sure if they've got Mick Jagger quaking in his boots just yet but it certainly is an almost unprecedented array of Rugby talent to have at your disposal.

But you can only have 15 of them on the pitch, unless you're the Ospreys, and our first XV looks as good as any in Europe and will be full of confidence after smashing Northampton last weekend.

Tigers have a 6-4 winning record in European Quarter Finals and are 3-3 in knock games with French sides.  The two knock games to be played in France are the 1997-8 Quarter Final defeat to Pau, 35-18, and the 2001 Final victory in Paris, 34-30.  The last time we won in France at all was the sodden December trip to Bourgoin in 2006, only 7 years ago and now Marcos Ayerza is the sole survivor in our first team. 

Sunday's referee will be Irishman George Clancy.  Clancy refereed Tigers crucial group stage victory over Toulouse at a snowy Welford Road, as well taking charge of the memorable 41 all draw with Gloucester in April 2011 and a bonus point victory against Llanelli in 2010 again at Welford Road.  Clancy has also refereed Toulon three times including last years emphatic defeat of Harlequins in the Amlin Challenge Cup at the Stade Mayol and this seasons 22-14 victory away to Cardiff.  Showing how Rugby can change quite rapidly the other Toulon game he has taken charge of was a 2008 fixture against Bristol, where the West country side romped to a 39-11 victory.

Tigers certainly go into this game with their backs against the wall but as a great man once said "Nobody puts Tigers in the Corner!"

Leicester Tigers (Toulon, Stade Felix Mayol, Sunday 5.30pm local / 4.30pm UK)
15 Mathew Tait
14 Niall Morris
13 Manu Tuilagi
12 Anthony Allen
11 Adam Thompstone
10 Toby Flood (c)
9 Ben Youngs
1 Marcos Ayerza
2 Tom Youngs
3 Dan Cole
4 Ed Slater
5 Geoff Parling
6 Tom Croft
7 Julian Salvi
8 Jordan Crane
Replacements
16 Rob Hawkins
17 Logovi'i Mulipola
18 Martin Castrogiovanni
19 Graham Kitchener
20 Thomas Waldrom
21 Sam Harrison
22 George Ford
23 Matt Smith


Toulon: 
15 Delon Armitage
14 Rudi Wulf
13 Mathieu Bastareaud
12 Matt Giteau
11 Alexis Palisson
10 Jonny Wilkinson (c)
9 Sébastien Tillous-Borde
1 Andrew Sheridan
2 Sebastien Bruno
3 Carl Hayman
4 Bakkies Botha
5 Nick Kennedy
6 Juan Fernandez Lobbe
7 Steffon Armitage
8 Chris Masoe Replacements: 
16 Mickael Ivaldi
17 Gethin Jenkins
18 Levan Chilachava
19 Jocelino Suta
20 Vincent Martin
21 Maxime Mermoz
22 Nicolas Durand
23 Joe van Niekerk