GRAHAM WOODS

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Tigers have kept fresh and are ready to roar

CHINESE New Year falls on February 14 but Leicester fans could be forgiven for thinking the Year of the Tiger has started already.

The Tigers began 2010 just inside the play-off places with Wasps breathing down their necks in fifth, two points behind with a game in hand.

But just a couple of weeks in they are top of the pile, having beaten long-term leaders Saracens away, and up-to-date with their games, thus having avoided the headache of a fixture pile-up.

Leicester began the season as 11-4 favourites for the regular-season title but made a muted start to the campaign, winning only every other one of their first eight matches. They drifted to 4-1 as Sarries took control of top spot, undefeated in the league in their first ten games.

But since then it’s been four wins in five games – a two-point defeat at Wasps the only blip – three home wins by margins of 39-6, 32-6 and 34-8, with bonus points in two of them, and that vital away win at deposed leaders Sarries. They are now as short as 13-8 for top spot.

And the good news keeps coming. While there wasonly one game played in the Guinness Premiership and one in the Magners League at the weekend because of the bad weather, many British and Irish teams are pitched straight into crucial Heineken Cup pool matches this weekend without sufficient preparation.

Leicester were one of the lucky teams to have been in action, and you can see why the club went to so much trouble to ensure their game was on.

Their Heineken Cup Pool Three rivals the Ospreys head to France this weekend to take on mighty Clermont knowing that if they fail to gain a point there is every chance Leicester, who play Italian minnows Viadana at home, will overhaul before the big clash between those sides in Swansea.

There are obviously plenty of issues to be decided over the next two weekends but it’s worth taking a look at the state of the Heineken Cup pool with four matches played and two to go.

POOL ONE
Northampton are just two points behind Munster but when you look at the remaining fixtures it’s no surprise that the Irish side are no better than 1-10 to finish on top. They face Treviso on Saturday and Northampton at Thomond Park the following weekend, and whille the Saints are on the up, they are not yet as accomplished a side as Leicester were when they became the only team to win a European match at the famous Limerick fortress. Munster were 4-6 at the start, French champions Perpignan were 12-5 but fell at the first with a shock defeat to Treviso.

POOL TWO
It’s been a stroll for Biarritz, yet you could get 11-8 about them at the start of the tournament as Gloucester and Glasgow looked potentially dangerous rivals. The Basque side currently occupy the top seeding slot for the quarter-finals yet they were an easy-to-back 22-1 to win the competition in October. Beaten finalists in 2006, Biarritz haven’t been the most reliable of Heineken Cup teams but they have a strong home record. However, an easy group passage can give a false impression come the knockout stages – five times in the last seven seasons teams have gone through the group stage with six wins out of six (Bath, Leinster twice, Llanelli and last season Cardiff) but none has made it to the final.

POOL THREE
Leicester’s group and what a humdinger. If Clermont and Leicester win in round five and no one gets a bonus point they and the Ospreys will be in a three-way tie on 16 points. Clermont, with a home game against the Ospreys followed by a trip to Viadana, are 2-5 favourites but there is a good chance this group could provide two qualifiers. Last season it came down to a final-round match between the Ospreys and Leicester at the Liberty Stadium - the Welsh side won 15-9 but the Tigers got the bonus point they needed to finish on top.

POOL FOUR
Stade Francais are no better than 1-40 as neither Ulster nor Edinburgh have been able to build on good results consistently and Bath, despite running Stade close at home before losing to a late score, have been a disappointment. One worry for the French side could be the loss of scrum-half Julien Dupuy to suspension, and with only one bonus point in four games they may fall short of gaining a home quarter-final.

POOL FIVE
Sale have been the side to challenge Toulouse and they face the French giants at home in their final game. First, though, it’s a tricky trip to Cardiff while the French giants take on a winless Harlequins. Toulouse visit Edgeley Park in the final round and their recent record in England has been pretty solid, with draws at Bath and Wasps, a win over London Irish and bonus-point defeats to Leicester and Northampton in the last five years.

POOL SIX
This section could turn into another thriller, as London Irish won at pool favourites Leinster in the opening round then promptly went and lost at home to the Scarlets. Leinster were hugely impressive in big back-to-back wins over the Welsh side and Irish must hope that those defeats have taken their toll as they head to Parc y Scarlets. In the final round it’s London Irish against Leinster, though the Exiles have had to switch the match to Twickenham because of a fixture clash with landlords Reading FC, and the big open spaces at HQ might suit the Irish raiders. It’s 1-2 Leinster, 15-8 London Irish to top the section, from 10-11 and 7-4 at the start.


As the tables stand the quarter-final line-up would be Biarritz v Northampton, Ospreys v London Irish, Leinster v Stade Francais and Munster v Toulouse, but expect plenty of reshuffling in the next ten days.