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Neutral territory for return to action

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Leicester Tigers break new ground this Friday with their opening pre-season fixture and also their first-ever match in Switzerland.

Rugby is indeed a world game these days and Tigers, without jetting off on a summer tour, are taking in Geneva and Jersey as well as one last warm-up at home to Ulster before the new season dawns in September.

Geneva provides neutral territory for Friday’s game against Montpellier who, like Ulster, will renew acquaintances for real as Heineken Cup rivals for Leicester in the new season.

There is nothing to read into the result and probably little to read into the performance with players at different stages of their own preparations, the French season starting ahead of the Aviva Premiership and the Lions players just back to work. But the first game of pre-season still presents its own benchmarks.

First, Friday will mean a potential first run out for the new arrivals in the squad and perhaps some of the younger faces looking to make their mark at senior level as well as the core of the squad who led Tigers to the league title in May.

The first game of the pre-season programme is also a chance to collectively blow the cobwebs off.

How many times have we heard players returning from any lengthy injury absence say they felt ready to go in the weeks building up to their comeback but couldn’t wait to get that first tackle or first scrum out of the way to settle any anxiety and properly focus their minds on the job in hand? It must be exactly the same at the end of the summer break.

For non-internationals, this will be the first game since the end of May, so it is a maximum two-and-a-half months without rugby for any of the Tigers players. But, no matter how long/short their summer break, they will all have been counting down to this Friday and the first run-out of 2013/14.

Montpellier against Tigers follows a game between Racing Metro and Harlequins in the same Geneva stadium so supporters, too, will be able to enjoy the entrées ahead of what promises to be a feast of rugby in the new season.