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Tigers face up to a triple test

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After three successive wins, the next block of three is going to be even more important in the Leicester Tigers season.

The fixtures gods could hardly have made it any harder for Tigers with successive games against Exeter, Saints and Bath over the next three weeks.
 
Exeter are second in the table and always a difficult team to stop when they gain momentum; Saints are, well, Saints; and Bath have handed out a couple of humblings to Tigers in recent seasons while their coat-tails are currently the ones within closest range in the league table.
 
Fortunately, Tigers go into that sequence, starting against the Chiefs at Welford Road on Friday, on the back of three impressive performances against Gloucester, Bristol and Harlequins. Three wins, 15 tries and 14 points are just what the doctor ordered.
 
It has been widely accepted that Gloucester were poor on the day but there is equally no doubts that Tigers contributed to their woes with an energised performance. Don’t forget, either, that the West Country boys beat Saracens a week later.
 
A week later the win over Bristol brought some notable scores among the right tries and 50 points in a game for the first time in more than five years. Just a week later, Bris beat fourth-placed Bath in their derby day. Remember, too, that Tigers were losibng at half-time in the home game against London Welsh who occupied the bottom spot in the table this time last year.
 
Any win at Quins is worth celebrating, especially one when the clubs are separated by just a couple of points in the table and when, in Aaron Mauger’s own words “Winning on the road has not been our strongest point this season”.
 
Now Tigers face the second-placed Chiefs and fourth-placed Bath either side of a trip to Saints, a derby game in which league positions are rarely relevant but points absolutely crucial nevertheless.
 
That is some run, a run which will have a huge say in the course of a season which has already had more twists, turns, peaks and dips than a Universal Studios theme park.
 
In the same timefame, too, Bath face the teams currently occupying first, third and fifth positions in the table. It is the time of the season to see who blinks first, and with limited opportunity to correct any errors. Just the way the fixture gods like it!