Newcastle Falcons v Leicester Tigers Sunday 4^th May 3pm

Current Form

·        Newcastle’s chance of any success this season went on Friday night with their 31-16 defeat at Worcester in the semi-finals of the European Challenge Cup.

·        They have the worst form in the division at the moment and have lost their last 7 matches in the Premiership. They suffered their biggest defeat this season when losing at Sale 53-10 in their last Premiership match and are now clinging on to 10^th spot, 3 points ahead of Worcester.

·        With Leicester and London Wasps to visit Kingston Park followed by a last day trip to Worcester, Newcastle have every chance of finishing this season with 10 consecutive defeats.

·        They have played 9 matches at home this season, winning 5 and losing 4.

·        Leicester beat Bristol at Welford Road last time out and and stayed in 6^th place in the table. They are only 2 points behind 4^th placed Harlequins and have a good chance of finishing in the top 4 if they win on Sunday and beat Harlequins at home the following week.

·        They have played 10 matches away from home this season, winning 5 and losing 5.

History

·        Newcastle and Leicester have met 21 times in league rugby since 1997.

·        Newcastle have won 6 times and Leicester 12 times with 3 games drawn.

·        Newcastle have won 5 of the matches at Kingston Park, Leicester winning 3 and 2 games ending in draws.

·        Leicester beat Newcastle 83-10 at Welford Road in 2005 which was a record victory and defeat for both clubs.

·        Newcastle completed a league double against Leicester for the one and only time the first season they met in the league in 1997/98.

·        Leicester have completed a league double over Newcastle 3 times, in 1999, 2001 and 2005.

·        Newcastle have won the last 2 meetings between the clubs at Kingston Park.

·        Leicester beat Newcastle 41-14 at Welford Road in January.

Trends and Trivia

·        Newcastle are currently on a run of 7 defeats in the Guinness Premiership. They also lost 7 between November 2002 and January 2003. They did not win any of their opening 9 matches in 1999/00 but drew 2 of them.

·        Newcastle are having their worst season in the Premiership since 1999/00 when they won 6 and drew 2 to finish 11^th.

·        Newcastle have only scored 282 points this season, the lowest total by any club in the Premiership.

·        Newcastle have only scored 153 points at home in the Premiership this season. They have never scored less than 200 points in a home Premiership season before.

·        Newcastle have only scored 28 tries in the Premiership this season. They still have every chance of beating their worst ever total of 31 in 2002/03.

·        The lowest number of conversions they have ever scored in a season is 23 in 1999/00. With 3 games still to play this season they have only managed 17.

·        Jonny Wilkinson has scored 72 points for Newcastle this season. The only other player to be leading points scorer in a season for Newcastle and not score 100 is Toby Flood who only scored 89 last season. Jonny Wilkinson was Newcastle’s leading points scorer every season between 1997/98 and 2001/02, he was also top scorer in 2003/04.

·        Tom May still leads the tries with 5 although he has only scored one try in his last 12 Premiership matches. He was Newcastle’s top try scorer in 2002/03 with 12 tries.

·        Tom May is the only Newcastle player to have appeared in 18 of their 19 Premiership matches this season. He also made the most appearances last season with 21.

·        Leicester won a record 7^th Championship title last season. In the last 10 seasons in the Premiership, Leicester have won 157 of 227 matches played. A win percentage of 69.16%, the highest by any team in the division.

·        The worst position Leicester have finished in Division1/Premiership is 6^th, in 1988/89, 1991/92 and 2002/03.

·        Leicester and Harlequins are the only teams in the Premiership that have conceded more points at home this season than away from home.

·        Leicester have scored 50 tries in the Premiership this season, 30 at home and 20 away, 30 in the second-half of their matches and 20 in the first-half.

·        Leicester have only conceded 15 tries in their 10 away matches this season, the fewest in the Premiership. Newcastle have only scored 15 tries at home this season, with Leeds the fewest in the Premiership.

·        The Leicester forwards have scored 16 tries this season, the most by any pack in the Premiership. The Newcastle forwards have only scored 7 tries this season, the least by any pack in the Premiership.

·        Andy Goode has scored the most Premiership points for Leicester this season with 174. This will be the 5^th season in succession he has been the leading points scorer for the club. He is also the league’s leading penalty kicker this season with 40 to his name.

·        Tom Varndell has scored 9 tries for Leicester this season. He was their leading try scorer with 9 again last season and in 2005/06 he was the league’s leading try scorer with 14.

·        Ben Kayser, Johne Murphy and Tom Varndell have all played in 18 of Leicester’s 20 Premiership matches this season.