Just two weeks after their Gallagher Premiership fixture, Leicester Tigers and Newcastle Falcons meet again at Mattioli Woods Welford Road on Saturday, this time in the quarter-final of the European Challenge Cup.
Kick-off in this last eight- encounter is at 12.30pm, with live coverage on BT Sport 2.
The teams have met five times before in knockout matches, dating back to the Tigers versus Gosforth games in the John Player Cup, but have never met in European competition.
Overall the clubs have met on 61 previous occasions, with Tigers winning 45 to 13 by Newcastle and three games drawn.
Tigers, who reached the tournament semi-finals in 2019/20, moved into the last eight with a 48-32 win over Irish visitors Connacht last Saturday, following back-to-back wins over French teams Brive and Bayonne in the pool stages.
Falcons beat Castres Olympique in France during the preliminary stage and then earned a 28-24 victory over the Ospreys in Swansea last week after coming back from a 14-point deficit as they continued their progress in the knockout stages.
In team news announced on Friday, Tigers welcome back Hanro Liebenberg, a tryscorer in the win over Newcastle in the Gallagher Premiership at the end of March, in a line-up led by scrum-half Richard Wigglesworth. Freddie Steward and Kini Murimurivalu return to the backline, with Ellis Genge, Dan Cole and George Ford named among the replacements. Ford will make his 100th appearance for the club if he is used from the bench.
England international back-rower Mark Wilson leads the Falcons as director of rugby Dean Richards includes ex-Tigers quartet Logovi’i Mulipola, George McGuigan, Michael Young and Greg Peterson who all sat out the league meeting.
Johnny McPhillips, Calum Green, Toby Flood, Gareth Owen, Vereniki Goneva, James Grindal, Andy Goode, Adam Balding, Geoff Parling, Ben Woods, Kieran Brookes, Tim Stimpson and Martin Corry are among the others who have worn the colours of both clubs in the professional era.
Referee on Saturday is French official Romain Poite who was in charge of Harlequins against Ulster in the Round of 16 last week.
If scores are level at full-time, the match will move into extra-time. A place-kick competition would be used to find a winner if the teams could not be separated after extra-time.
The winners will then go into the draw for the semi-finals which is scheduled for 5.00pm on Sunday.
PLEASE NOTE
There is live coverage of the quarter-final on BT Sport 2 as games remain behind closed doors.
The BT Match Pass service for home season ticket holders applies only for Gallagher Premiership fixtures and is therefore not available for this match.
Keep in touch with the club’s Matchday Live Service using the Tigers app or the club website, or follow updates on the club’s Twitter pages. Make sure you’ve downloaded the most recent app update (Apple 2.11.0 or Android 36) to receive all of the latest news and info ahead of every matchday.
European Challenge Cup quarter-finals: Bath Rugby v London Irish (Friday 8.00pm), Leicester Tigers v Newcastle Falcons (Saturday 12.30pm), Northampton Saints v Ulster Rugby (Saturday 8.00pm), Montpellier v Benetton Rugby (Saturday 9.00pm local / 8.00pm UK).
