Twenty years on from their last Heineken Champions Cup title, Leicester Tigers have well and truly marked their return to the upper echelons of European Rugby.
Whilst the midlands based club have had their fair share of domestic success and a few deep runs in Europe, the past four seasons have been fruitless.
Steve Borthwick’s presence alongside the emergence of several talented young players has led a renaissance of note.
Heading into last weekend’s away trip to Clermont Auvergne few would have seen a 19-point victory as the likely outcome. Couple the final result with the fact that the Tigers received a first half red card and you get the picture as to just how impressive the performance was.
Today’s 27 – 17 victory at home stamped Leicester’s ticket to their first quarterfinal appearance since the 2015/16 season.
At the forefront of this victory was the Tigers back three most notably winger Harry Potter who capped off his performance by setting up fullback Freddie Steward with a world class try.
Starting with a scrum inside their own 22, scrumhalf Ben Youngs fed Potter who made a clean break before setting off on a winding run.
Leicester’s victory see’s Clermont once again crash out of the Champions Cup at an early play-off stage. For the Tigers they now face the gargantuan challenge of four-time champions Leinster coming to Welford Road in a repeat of their 2001/02 quarterfinal match-up.
Whilst the Tigers were very much the favourites in 2002 with the likes of Martin Johnson, Lewis Moody and Austin Healy at their disposal. This group will be underdogs against a highly experience Leinster side led by Jonathan Sexton. Despite their experience disadvantage, Leicester have now won 13 in a row at home and will be quietly confident of causing the upset.
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