Leicester Tigers will travel down to Kingsholm this Saturday, November 25, for a double-header with the men's team, with the side's first ever away game in the Premiership as tough a test as is possible in domestic women's rugby.
Just five months ago, Gloucester-Hartpury lifted their first ever top-flight title at the briefly christened 'Queensholm' stadium, a 33-19 victory over Exeter Chiefs the proverbial cherry on top of a storming season for the Cherry & Whites.
Victorious in the final of the Premier 15s, now Allianz Premiership Women's Rugby, Gloucester-Hartpury were a dominant force all season, leading the league for the whole season and even retaining an unbeaten status until into the new year. They have won 19 of their last 21 games in the competition.
Forwards Coach Luke Stratford was effusive in his praise for the Champions, labelling them 'the apex of the league' earlier this week, while in interviews with BBC Radio Leicester, captain Natasha Jones spoke about them being 'the best club side in the world'.
The game will be the first chance Gloucester-Hartpury have to defend their title, the side set to play their first game of the season, having had a bye last week after being scheduled to face Warriors Women.
The contest will also serve as a double-header for the Slater Cup, with Tigers men's team the current holders following two victories in last season's Gallagher Premiership, while a new women's Slater Cup will be contested between Tigers and Gloucester-Hartpury.
The game will see two attacking teams going hammer and tongs at one another, with plenty of points potential in both camps. Following Round 1 of Allianz PWR, Tigers' Meg Jones is the joint leading points scorer in the league thus far with one try, two conversions and a penalty, while her three direct try involvements, with one try and two assists in her debut match for the club, also rank joint top after Round 1.
On the home side, you have fellow Red Rose Natasha 'Mo' Hunt, who in the 2022/23 Premiership season was the leading contributer in the entire league for try contribitions, with seven tries and a, frankly staggering, 28 assists.
The home side are also heavy hitters in defence, registering the highest tackle success rate (89.3%) and registering the most dominant tackles in the league, the only side to reach over 200 with 203.
Hard hitting defence has always been a club staple for Tigers and the Tigers family will be buoyed by the starts of the likes of Keia Mae Sagapolu Sanele, the top dominant tackler in the whole league after Round 1 with three, Roisin McBrien, who made two dominant tackles and 15 across the whole game, tying with Becky Noon as the Tigers player with the most tackles from the opening game.
Fellow back-row partner Morgan Richardson also impressed on her debut in Allianz Premiership Women's Rugby, showing physicality in attack by making four tackle breaks across the match, the second most in the side behind Jones, while her work at the ruck is also to be commended, leading the team for attacking breakdown arrivals.
If Tigers are to pull off a famous victory it will be through their speed; their average ruck speed of 2.77 seconds, with 77% between 0-3 seconds is the highest in the league by a distance and is indicative of the rugby Senior Coach Tom Hudson and Head of Women's Rugby Vicky Macqueen have laid out.
Whatever the scoreline, the game is sure to be an exciting one as Leicester Tigers women continue their journey to establishing themselves in the elite women's league in all of rugby, against the reigning Champions.
