As ecstatic as senior executives will be at the return of Welford Road Weekly, they are happier still to see Leinster arrive at the home of the Tigers. Excitement among all who know their rugby is palpable, certainly I’ve not looked forward to a game quite like this in a while.
We need to savour these days though, because let’s not forget that it’s entirely possible that Leicester will not win a damn thing this season.
Saracens seem hugely motivated to win the Premiership on their return from demotion - certainly by the way they put Exeter away in the second half recently in North London. And any side who can beat Leinster, Munster or Toulouse and probably Racing in successive rounds will deserve to win the Champions Cup. Odds against, though.
So Saturday is a day to relish after the club’s relative decline. They do NOT come bigger than Leinster at home, who would not be here this weekend at all if it hadn’t been for a highly controversial Covid decision at the start of the competition.
A SETTLED LOOK
The selection over the last few weeks - as well as Borthwick’s comments this week - confirm that Leicester will go in battle-hardened rather than rested into Saturday’s encounter. Having said that though, these players have unquestionably been managed well during the course of another ridiculously long season.
In spite of Leinster resting all their top names bar Andrew Porter from their recent trip to South Africa, they will be ready for what comes on the weekend. Also bear in mind, the second string weren’t exactly makeweights, picking up losing bonus points at both the Sharks and the Stormers.
So who are Tigers likely to go with? With Genge, Montoya and Cole lining up against Bristol, you wouldn’t bet against them starting again this week. Wells will surely be there with possibly Chessum alongside him for the lineout option, fresh from suspension, but you could see both Green and Snyman still involved from the bench. Liebenberg, Reffell and Wiese are becoming a settled back-row combination, unless there is a selectorial rabbit to be drawn from the hat.
Steward, Ford and Youngs pick themselves in the backs but otherwise, there are options of choice and necessity. Nadolo will surely be on one wing and then Potter or Ashton will be on the right. I cannot call it and however unfortunate it is for Potter, I can see the experience of Ashton winning out.
The centres though are where there is most competition. Porter was in fine form before his suspension, but he was at fault for Bristol’s opening score before settling in. Harsh as it is, Henshaw and Ringrose will have spotted that, all right. Moroni’s performance and experience may have won him the 13 shirt, but the big call is at 12.
If Kelly is fit, he starts. If not, you can make the case for both Scott or Porter and again, experience may well win the day for Scott in another very tight call. But Borthwick’s selections have bamboozled us all before and they may well do so again.
WHERE IS EVERYONE?
Plenty of excitement then, but there is also surprise. A look at the tickets sold graphic from the club website probably explains why:
Now this will have been updated and you can click on the above image for the latest info, which provides striking and sobering information. NB The colours do not indicate sold out status, merely the category of ticket.
But when I started looking at around 8pm on Bank Holiday Monday, there were nearly 6,000 tickets still available for the game which would indicate a crowd of only around 20,000 - though the closer to a game, the more mentions there are in the local and national media, the greater the word of mouth, the more the excitement builds up and the more tickets get sold. This is now the prime time to sell tickets.
I’ve no idea on the take-up from Leinster fans, but the attendance could be well on a par with similar crowds recently. However, this should be different - hang on, this IS different. So why such an anaemic turnout?
Fans will always mention kick-off time, but A) that ship sailed years ago and B), I’d argue later kick-offs on a Saturday afternoon affect fewer than Friday or Sunday kick-offs, but that’s just conjecture and cold comfort to those travelling in from East Anglia and Northamptonshire where the trains are even more awkward than for most. The other main thought is ticket prices being too high and that could well be a factor. These are after all tough times.
Of course, any good organisation will question its strategy but there’s two other factors you can also look at.
Leicester haven’t had any big knockout games to sell since 2016 which also happens to be the year City won the Premier League. It’s certainly true that the Foxes rarely fail to sell out and it will be interesting to see what happens if - or when - they get planning permission to extend the King Power by 8,000 seats. Certainly following City has been the sexier pull to the neutral in recent years.
You can question the value of the Champions Cup and its format too, but that shouldn’t have any bearing on a high-profile fixture featuring the best European side of the last ten years.
If this is a Leicester thing, I would love to know what outreach to new audiences Tigers are carrying out. Social influencers like Cool as Leicester are taking an interest and appear to be engaged.
Questions will surely be asked though why the Sold Out signs are still stashed away in the cupboard. In fact, this ought to be a wake-up call not just for Leicester but the competition organisers - especially with a possible semi-final in the same place, seven days later.
BYE BYE SYDNEY?
Further afield, the hosts are expected to be named next week for the next five World Cups - 2027/2031 for the men, 2025, 2029 as well as 2033 for the women.
Who is likely to get each tournament seems less of a story. England are preferred candidates in 2025, as are Australia 2027 and 2029, while the United States will almost certainly get 2031 and 2033. The lack of surprise at the venues means that we can now scan our eyes to the actual bids themselves.
Given that the women’s cricket World Cup Final packed out Lord’s pre-pandemic, you can easily see Twickenham being sold out for the rugby version on current trends.
Two years after that, it is distinctly possible that the men’s final will not be in the old Olympic stadium, if indeed it is in Sydney at all. Melbourne looks a distinctly stronger bet, according to one columnist, if not Perth.
As for the Americans in 2031, 28 potential cities have expressed formal support for a bid backed by the White House. Given the importance of the European audience though, expect the Final to be in an East Coast time zone.
I notice that WR is setting up joint ventures to stage these tournaments in conjunction with both Australia and the US.
Room for more private equity involvement?
Thanks for your company this weekend. Here’s hoping I don’t break this laptop now..
Chris
I think there’s a number of issues. My seat was £45 plus the booking fee, I pay £400 for the Season. If I wanted to purchase another seat in the same block right now it would be £58.
I know Premiership Rugby isn’t awash with the money of football and the last two years have hit the Tigers very hard but it is expensive. I just have the one ticket to buy so I can justify it. If you are looking to take the family it will be an expensive day out.
There’s a home playoff game on the horizon and a possible semi final IF we beat Leinster, we could then be looking At Twickenham and Marseille. The games on TV a lot might just be holding back on this one.
Agree Chris that ticket sales are concerning. I think they should have addressed that this week by offering something like and extra £10 off or a half price deal for the Premiership semi for everyone that buys a ticket for this game. They could also have helped by adding some clarity around where the pricing will be for the Premiership semi and where it would be if we are able to reach the Champions Cup semi. I do agree that for general Leicester and Leicestershire sport fans the success of Leicester City adds to the cost, especially as LCFC's run in Europe has enabled a lot of fans without season tickets to go to those games. The cup games for LCFC have also seen a lot of season ticket holders not going or moving seats to cheaper areas and while they have sold out they took a fair time to do so.