Stage set for a Tiger attack

THIS is the stage of the season when momentum counts.

- PAUL REES

The Premiership campaign resumes next weekend with champions Leic- ester the form team a couple of months after their title defence looked to have stalled. 

When they lost at home to East Midlands rivals Northampton at the end of January, it was their seventh defeat in 13 league matches and they had drawn at Bristol. They had dropped to eighth in the table and only the Bears had a worse points difference.

They had suffered heavy defeats at Sale and Newcastle in the rounds before Northampton and it looked as if the loss of head coach Steve Borthwick and defence coach Kevin Sinfield to England the previous month had dealt a mortal blow to their title hopes.

Richard Wigglesworth took over from Borthwick for the rest of the season having combined his coaching duties with playing and the Northampton weekend marked the start of England’s Six Nations preparations, meaning they faced being without Freddie Steward, Anthony Watson, Dan Kelly, Ben Youngs, Jack van Poortvliet, Dan Cole and Ollie Chessum for the next seven weeks on England duty while Wales flanker Tommy Reffell was expected to be available only on the two fallow weekends during the tournament.

The Tigers had three weeks until their next match, at home to the leaders Saracens. With improving London Irish away the week after that, their Premiership season was on the line at the time they were without virtually half a side and a new coaching team was bedding in.

Freddie Burns had played his final match for Tigers against Northampton before moving to New Zealand. With Steward and Watson away with England, it meant a shortage of full-backs. Wigglesworth signed Mike Brown on a short-term contract, nearly a year after the full-back’s last appearance in the Premiership, also against Saracens but for Newcastle.