Leicester Tigers will take on Bristol Bears this weekend, returning to Mattioli Woods Welford Road for a second home fixture in as many weeks.
In what is sure to be a fiercely contested match, Saturday's visiting Bears are one of the standout sides in the league, with a and a star-studded squad.
Looking at their front row depth alone, they have Red Rose star tighthead Hannah Botterman injured but have replaced her with Wales star Gwenllian Pyrs for the visit to Leicester, Prys partnered with Roses Lark Atkin-Davies and Sarah Bern, both of whom played an integral role in England's WXV 1 triumph earlier this season.
Even amongst the bench, they feature firepower like Lana Skeldon, the Scotland hooker with 66 appearances and 15 tries for her country and Scotland prop Elliann Clarke.
If the latter two do come off the bench, we could be looking at an near-all Scottish clash, with Tigers starting the match with an all tartan front row of internationals Leah Bartlett, Elis Martin and Lisa Cockburn.
The South-West side currently sit fourth in the Allianz Premiership Women's Rugby table, with an even record of three wins and three losses in the league thus far, falling to the current top three (Saracens, Exeter Chiefs and Gloucester-Hartpury) in tight matches.
Like many of the team's in a league that averages 8.5 tries per game, Bristol Bears love to attack with ball in hand; the side have made more carries per game than any other team in this season’s Allianz Premiership Women’s Rugby (159) and are also one of just two teams to have made 7+ line breaks per game in the league this term (8.8), alongside Saracens (9.2).
Their 227.5 passes per game are also the highest in the league and they like to retain the ball, conceding the least amount of turnovers this year. They're no slouches in defence either, recording the lowest number of missed tackles.
Tigers also pride themselves on their effort in defence and have made the second most tackles in the league (191.7 average per game) thus far. Tigers Becky Noon (101) and Morgan Richardson (84) are first and fourth in the tackle charts, with Noon the first player to record over a hundred tackles in the league this year. The back row is a true workhorse and also leads the league in number of attacking rucks hit (147), demonstrating her incredible value in both defence and attack.
This Saturday, January 13, Leicester Tigers will have to be at their very best to secure that elusive first win in Allianz Premiership Women's Rugby.
