Leicester Tigers travel to The Recreation Ground in Bath on Saturday for the final game in the Aviva Premiership regular season knowing a place in the semi-finals is already secure.
Tigers sit in fourth place in the table, three points behind third-placed Wasps who are at home to bottom-of-the-table and five points behind an Exeter Chiefs side who go to Harlequins on the final day. Saracens are already guaranteed top seeding. Bath, who were runners-up last season, will finish the season in ninth place.
The two clubs have met on 188 previous occasions, with Tigers winning 11 to Bath’s 64. The hosts are chasing a 50th win over Tigers at The Recreation Ground where the visitors have not won since March 2011.
Tigers won the first meeting of the sides this season with Dan Cole scoring the decisive try. Click here for full details from that match.
Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill said: “Our first objective was to finish in the top four and we’ve done that. Now we have a semi-final to prepare for. Memories of our last two games at The Rec have not been particularly good ones, but we have to manage the squad sensibly.
“It is a unique season with the amount of back-to-back games. We started in October and I think freshening those lads up is important. We’ll send a side that is fresh and hungry to play and look after the guys ready for the semi-final.”
Cockerill confirmed that scrum-half Sam Harrison had suffered a broken nose in the win over Worcester Warriors in Round 21, while Manu Tuilagi, Mike Fitzgerald and Brendon O’Connor all hope to be available again for the semi-final in two weeks’ time.
Referee this Saturday is Craig Maxwell-Keys, taking charge of his 18th Premiership fixture.
Match tickets are now available only from Bath Rugby.
All Round 22 fixtures kick off simultaneously at 3.30pm on Saturday, with the semi-final line-up confirmed at the final whistle. Dates and times of the semi-final fixtures on the weekend of May 20/21/22 will be confirmed as soon as possible and announced through the club website and social media..
Tigers sit in fourth place in the table, three points behind third-placed Wasps who are at home to bottom-of-the-table and five points behind an Exeter Chiefs side who go to Harlequins on the final day. Saracens are already guaranteed top seeding. Bath, who were runners-up last season, will finish the season in ninth place.
The two clubs have met on 188 previous occasions, with Tigers winning 11 to Bath’s 64. The hosts are chasing a 50th win over Tigers at The Recreation Ground where the visitors have not won since March 2011.
Tigers won the first meeting of the sides this season with Dan Cole scoring the decisive try. Click here for full details from that match.
Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill said: “Our first objective was to finish in the top four and we’ve done that. Now we have a semi-final to prepare for. Memories of our last two games at The Rec have not been particularly good ones, but we have to manage the squad sensibly.
“It is a unique season with the amount of back-to-back games. We started in October and I think freshening those lads up is important. We’ll send a side that is fresh and hungry to play and look after the guys ready for the semi-final.”
Cockerill confirmed that scrum-half Sam Harrison had suffered a broken nose in the win over Worcester Warriors in Round 21, while Manu Tuilagi, Mike Fitzgerald and Brendon O’Connor all hope to be available again for the semi-final in two weeks’ time.
Referee this Saturday is Craig Maxwell-Keys, taking charge of his 18th Premiership fixture.
Match tickets are now available only from Bath Rugby.
All Round 22 fixtures kick off simultaneously at 3.30pm on Saturday, with the semi-final line-up confirmed at the final whistle. Dates and times of the semi-final fixtures on the weekend of May 20/21/22 will be confirmed as soon as possible and announced through the club website and social media..
