Premiership Preview – Leicester
Newcastle Falcons travel to Welford Road tomorrow afternoon (Dec 26th) to take on a Leicester Tigers that sits third in the current Aviva Premiership standings
Having lost only once across 10 matches in the Premiership and European Rugby Challenge Cup, the Tigers have posted an enviable start to the season and will be expecting a full house behind them come 3pm on Saturday.
The match is the third meeting between the sides this season, having already played home and away in the Kings of the North cup in two fixtures that saw a Falcons team heavily affected by injuries and international call ups, deliver solid performances against Richard Cockerill’s side.
In Leicester, a team assembled from a squad with 20 players unavailable made an impressive start, matching their hosts and emerging from the first 40 minutes with the scores tied 19 all.
The Tigers made sure that Japan’s win over South Africa would be the only result against the form book that day, but with a number of the club’s young prospects shining brightly, including Craig Willis who makes his first Aviva Premiership start this week, it was an encouraging display.
During the return fixture at Kingston Park, the Falcons fought back from a 0-22 deficit to within a sniff of victory with a 28-30 scoreline.
Marking the debut of American international Todd Clever, the Falcons battled their way to within one score of the Tigers in the dying embers of the game, before a superb display of handling put centre Chris Harris into a gap.
Crashing over the line, the Cumbrian had seemed to have scored a decisive try for the hosts, but in another controversial call by an official, Harris was deemed to be held up and the full time whistle sounded.
Having announced an exciting side for the round seven fixture, the Falcons will be looking to carry momentum of a 29-5 win over Connacht in the European Rugby Challenge Cup into this block of three Aviva Premiership fixtures.
Tomorrow’s game has live audio commentary via the BBC Rugby website and live text commentary via the club’s official app and Twitter account.
