East Midland derbies are always special. Nothing gets the blood simmering nicely than a full-on scrap with your neighbours – and we've seen blood levels reach boiling point on several occasions in the match ups between Leicester Tigers and Northampton Saints. I mean, some teams in rugby like to give each other a good shoeing every now and again, but I mean these two really hate each other – you'd be more likely to see Luis Suarez and Branislav Ivanovic in a civil partnership than see these two taking it easy with each other on the field. I say hate in a strictly "professional-rugby" sense of the word of course, but with a soap-opera style list of incidents – Manu Tuilagi's attack on Chris Ashton, Ashton's hair pulling on Alesana Tuilagi and Calum Clarke's assault on Rob Hawkins – you do begin to wander if there is something more sinister under the surface.
Of course, the reality is that the above incidents are all
just over-zealous actions (although Clarke's was a little harder to justify)
resulting from the deep-rooted competitiveness between these 2 when somebody
pulls on a Leicester or Northampton shirt.
These two great clubs are steeped in tradition and have two of the
biggest and loudest fanbases in the country – if it was atmosphere, passion and
entertainment the neutral wanted in the Premiership final this year, they've
got it. With Leicester looking
unplayable in their second half against Harlequins and Saints bringing new meaning
to the word "Oomph" against Saracens in the semis, the storm is well
and truly brewing.
The Tigers have made their annual pilgrimage down to west
London with almost mundane impressiveness – it is no longer to see a Leicester
side picking up wins but looking ordinary throughout the bulk of the season
before really turning it on in the home straight. Perhaps that has something to do with having
their international players around for a decent period of time for once, or
perhaps it that clinical ruthlessness is now just embedded now into the fabric
of this team – it certainly seems that way, to a point. I say to a point because the 'fact of the
week' has been Leicester's sub-par record in Premiership finals – despite this
being their 9th on the bounce, they have only won 3 previously. I blame myself in part/entirely for that, as
my record of watching Leicester at Twickenham stands at 8 matches seen, 1
Tigers win – essentially every time (since 1997) I haven't been to HQ,
Leicester have won. Northampton fans will
be delighted to hear that I will be in attendance on Saturday.
Leicester's biggest enemy on Saturday will be themselves –
and I say that without doing Northampton any disservice. The Tigers will know that they have the
better side on paper – and on record, with 7 consecutive wins against their
rivals – but after seeing Northampton crush Saracens the way they did in their
semi-final, there must be some fear in the back of the players' minds of
falling at the final hurdle once more.
And maybe they have good reason to be afraid – my reaction when
faced with a pack sporting the likes of Courtney Lawes, Brian Mujati, Soane
Tonga'uiha and Samu Manoa would be to cry and adopt the foetal position on the
floor. Luckily, for the paying public,
Leicester will be made of sterner stuff but that doesn't change the fact that
this Saints pack can bring a frankly staggering level of physicality to the
party. As probably the only side who can
out-muscle the Tigers in an arm wrestle, Saints pride themselves on their set
piece and aggression in defence – and it was these qualities that were at the
forefront of their dismantling of Saracens in the semi-final. But there is more to this side than just raw
power – Ken Pisi has twinkle toes, Jamie Elliot is a great little finisher and
we all know what Ben Foden can do on his day – but the key for Northampton on
Saturday will be to keep themselves calm and focussed, and not let the unique
occasion get in their way.
That, of course, is far easier said than done, especially
when you consider some of the firecracker match ups across the park, with the
outcome of Tom Youngs v Hartley, Parling v Day, Crane v Manoa and Ben Youngs v
Dickson all capable of changing the course of the game. I can see the set piece being a key area –
after taking apart the country's best lineout (Saracens) last week, Christian
Day will want to get stuck into Tom Youngs' throw whilst Northampton will fancy
their chances in the scrum with the withdrawal of Marcos Ayerza. That said, the last time these 2 met – a 36-8
drubbing for the home side at Franklin's
Gardens – Leicester were all over the hosts' set piece and will need to ensure
they are just as tenacious this time round.
Away from the stodgy stuff, the underdogs' back row will be trying to
blast Leicesters' runners back in the tackle to slow the ball down and force
Youngs and Flood to play on the back foot – if they fail to manage that, then
they'll be giving the most creative attacking duo in the league free reign on
fast, fornt foot ball. And that's bound
to be dangerous as it's out wide that the Tigers hold the real advantage, with
the centre pairing of Manu Tuilagi and Anthony Allen in particular having
vastly more experience than the Saints pair of Luther Burrell and George
Wilson.
But all this talk of game plan will fly clean out of the
window when these 2 emerge from the tunnels on Saturday afternoon. After all, this is just another brawl;
another East Midlands derby. It's just
that this time, it's on a slightly bigger stage. And with even more at stake.
Leicester Team
News
Leicester go into their ninth successive Premiership final
with the same starting XV that eased past Harlequins in the semi-finals. Toby Flood will captain the side as Tigers
look to win an unparalleled 10th English crown.
Starting Line up: Tait;
Morris, Tuilagi, Allen, Goneva; Flood (capt), Ben Youngs; Mulipola, Tom Youngs,
Cole; Kitchener, Parling; Croft, Salvi, Crane.
Subs: Hawkins,
Balmain, Castrogiovanni, Slater, Mafi, Harrison, Ford, Smith.
Key Player
Manu Tuilagi. Some
people claimed that Tuilagi had a quiet game against Harlequins, but I disagree
– unless by "quiet game" they mean "not obliterating somebody
every 5 minutes". I thought the
semi-final was actually one of his most mature performances – he hit countless
rucks and was rock solid in defence, despite the fact he must have been
frustrated at not getting his hands on the ball as much as he would have
liked. That said, the first time he did
get the ball in space he set up a try, which just goes to show that Leicester
need to get him the ball more often.
Generally speaking, the more times a commentator mentions Tuilagi's name
(as long as it’s not used in conjunction with "Chris Ashton"), the
more effective the Tigers are at getting across that gainline and giving fast,
clean, front-foot ball for Youngs and Flood to exploit – but, more importantly,
the more likely they are to score a try out of nothing. Manu has the X Factor alright, but he needs
to make sure he really hunts for the ball on Saturday.
Northampton Team
News
Northampton make one change to the team that shocked
Saracens at Allianz Park, bringing in Phil Dowson at openside flanker for the
injured Callum Clark, whilst George Pisi
returns to the bench after missing the semi-final triumph.
Starting Line up:
Foden; Ken Pisi, Wilson, Burrell, Elliott; Myler, Dickson; Tonga'uiha, Hartley
(capt), Mujati; Lawes, Day; Dowson, Wood, Manoa.
Subs: Haywood,
Waller, Mercey, Nutley, Van Velze, Roberts, Lamb, George Pisi.
Key Player
Samu Manoa. Epic does
not really do justice to his display against Saracens. I gave him a 9 out of 10 but on reflection
that may have been harsh – the superbly-named, big American was everywhere,
smashing back opposition runners at every opportunity and carrying to great
effect, whilst showcasing his useful offloading skills. Leicester's game hinges on the 2 halfbacks
creating havoc around the fringes and in the inside channels before shipping
the ball wide, so the Saints backrow – and Manoa in particular – will have to
shut those options down and pile the pressure onto Youngs and Flood. They know that, on the front foot, these 2
can rip them apart but, under pressure, they can crumble.
Key Battle
Logovi'i Mulipola v Brian Mujati. Although a lot of the pre-match focus has
been on the All-Lions match up at hooker, I think the scrap between the 2 props
is key. Marcos Ayerza is a huge loss for
Leicester – the Argentinian is one of the best looseheads playing in Europe in
my view – but Mulipola has done a great job filling in. Primarily a tighthead, the Samoan prop is a
real handful around the park and has acquitted himself well in the set piece,
but his battle in the scrum against the bulldozing Brian Mujati will be another
test all together. After a blockbusting
display against Saracens, "Mooj" will be licking his lips at the
prospect of getting stuck into another powerful but perhaps-not-technically-perfect
loosehead. If Saints want to impose
their power game then they need to start in the set piece, which means Mujati
has to target and get underneath Mulipola – and, with Cole and Tonga'uiha's
battle probably staying just about even, the battle between Mulipola and Mujati
becomes absolutely critical. If the
Leicester pack starts going backwards then, like Saracens, doubt will start to
creep in – but if the Tigers hold their own, then one of the Saints' chief
attacking weapons will have been nullified.
Prediction
This was the final the neutral was probably hoping for and
to say it should be explosive is like saying that the Lions tour is "kind
of a big deal". Leicester have all
the experience but their Twickenham hoodoo will perhaps be lurking in the back
of their minds – if they go behind at any stage, even due to a lucky try – they
have to fight back that natural urge to think "Oh crap, here we go
again", because, on paper, they have the stronger side. Saints will be buoyed by self-belief after
thumping Saracens and will relish the underdog tag – they'll be coming out with
a brutal physicality. Despite the hiding
they received from the Tigers 6 weeks ago the mindset will be very different
amongst the teams and I can see this one going right down to the wire, and I
genuinely believe the tipping point may be the scrum. Dan Cole enjoys scrummaging against Soane
Tonga'uiha but if Munipola can't hold his side up against Mujati then the set
piece will crumble. If Leicester achieve
at least parity, I think they'll win – otherwise it could be a real scrap. I can't see the Tigers falling at the final
hurdle for a third time, so I'm going to lean towards the favourites. Tigers
by 4.
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