Leicester Tigers v Harlequins Saturday 10^th May 3pm

Current Form

·        Two teams who last weekend both had a good chance of finishing in a play-off position, both lost their matches, and Saturday’s match is likely to be a play-off for fifth position in the Premiership and with it, a guaranteed place in next season’s Heineken Cup.

·        Last Sunday, Leicester surprisingly lost 28-25 to an out-of-form Newcastle side who had lost their previous 7 matches in the Guinness Premiership. The Tigers dropped to 6^th in the league and trail Harlequins by 2 points.

·        Leicester have played 10 matches at Welford Road this season, winning 7 and losing 3.

·        Harlequins were beaten 23-16 at home to Sale last weekend and dropped to 4^th on the league ladder. Wednesday’s win by London Wasps sent them down to 5^th place, and they lead Leicester by 2 points.

·        Harlequins have played 10 matches away from home this season, winning 4 and losing 6.

History

·        Leicester and Harlequins have met 23 times in league rugby since 1995.

·        Leicester have a fantastic record against Quins winning 20 against 3 defeats.

·        Leicester have beaten Harlequins more than any other team in league rugby.

·        Incredibly, Harlequins won the first 2 league meetings at Welford Road in 1996 and 1997. They have not won their since, Leicester winning the last 9 on the run.

·        Harlequins have only won 1 of the last 19 meetings between the clubs, at the Stoop in 2003.

·        Unsurprisingly, Leicester have completed 8 league doubles against Harlequins and Harlequins have never completed a league double against Leicester.

·        Leicester beat Harlequins 54-5 at the Stoop in May 2000 which is their biggest ever home defeat in the Premiership.

·        Leicester beat Harlequins 42-13 at the Stoop in January this year.

Trends and Trivia

·        Leicester are presently in 6^th place in the Premiership. In the last 20 years, the lowest league position they have ever finished is 6^th, in 1988/89, 1991/92 and 2002/03.

·        Leicester have lost 3 games at Welford Road this season, the most since season 2003/04 when they lost 4 at home.

·        Leicester have scored 30 tries at home this season. Only once, in 2002/03, have they scored less, when they only crossed the line 29 times. In 1998/99 and 2004/05 they scored 50 tries at home.

·        Leicester have scored 508 points in their 21 Premiership matches this season. Again 2002/03 is the only season they have scored less when they only had 448 points to show for their efforts. 1998/99 was their best performance when they scored 771 points, but they did play 26 games.

·        As usual, Leicester have the highest average attendance in the Premiership at 17177. They have attracted a capacity 17498 to 4 matches this season and only dipped below 17000 once, when they entertained Worcester on World Cup final day with 16219 present.

·        Andy Goode has scored 179 points for Leicester this season. He will be their leading points scorer for the 5^th season in succession. Tim Stimpson was their leading points scorer for 4 consecutive seasons prior to Andy Goode.

·        Tom Varndell is now the leading try scorer in the league with 11. He has been Leicester’s top try scorer for the past 2 seasons and was the leading try scorer in the league in 2005/06. The only other Leicester players to be the league’s leading scorers were Rory Underwood in 1991/92 and Neil Back in 1998/99. Back is the only forward ever to be top try scorer in a Premiership season.

·        Ben Kayser and Tom Varndell have both appeared in 19 of Leicester’s 21 Premiership matches this season.

·        Despite a blip in mid-season, by winning 12 matches, Harlequins have had their best season since 1998/99.

·        They are likely to finish either 5^th or 6^th in the Premiership with a minimum of 61 points. They finished 6^th in 2003/04 with 54 points and 4^th in 1998/99 under the old points system.

·        Harlequins scored 28 tries at home this season, the highest number since scoring 33 in 1998/99.

·        Harlequins were successful with 23 conversions at home this season, the highest number since kicking 34 in 1997/98.

·        Harlequins have only conceded 167 points away from home this season. They are the only team in the Premiership not to concede at least 200 points on their travels. Their previous best record away from home is conceding 232 points in 2004/05.

·        Harlequins have only been successful with 17 penalty kicks away from home this season. The only season they have scored less was in 1999/00 when they kicked 16.

·        Adrian Jarvis has scored 115 points for Harlequins this season. He was top points scorer last season with 181.

·        Simon Keogh, Steve So’oialo and Ugo Monye have all scored 4 tries for Harlequins this season.

·        Mike Brown, Ceri Jones and Mike Ross have all played in Harlequins’ 21 Premiership matches this season.