Saturday 26 May 2012

Harlequins v Leicester - Preview


A sold-out Twickenham will see Harlequins and Leicester slug it out for the Aviva Premiership title on Saturday.

The showpiece event pitches table-topping Harlequins, who were the long-time leaders of the Premiership following a stellar start to the campaign, against the regular season runners-up.

Leicester's run of 11 successive wins - including victories over Quins, Northampton and defending champions Saracens - meant they finished just one off the pace.

And having booked their place in an eighth consecutive final , they will fancy their chances of bouncing back from last year's defeat and reclaiming their crown.

Harlequins, though, have shown a steely edge at times and despite not finishing the season at the same pace as they came out the blocks, they will make the short time full of confidence.
Capable

While they might not have the same Premiership final experience as the Tigers - they have won their last four appearances in finals, including the 2011 Amlin Challenge Cup.

And wins over Northampton, Leicester and away in Toulouse (in the Heineken Cup) have proved how far the side have come under the guidance of Conor O'Shea.

Crucially Quins will welcome back England internationals Ugo Monye and Danny Care to their line-up following the win over the Saints.

Leicester have suffered a setback in their preparations with Toby Flood is only fit enough for the bench - however as proved in the semi-final win over Sarries, George Ford is a more than capable replacement.

There is one change to the staring XV from that victory, with Julian Salvi replacing Craig Newby in the back-row.

Harlequins: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Tom Williams, 13 George Lowe, 12 Jordan Turner-Hall, 11 Ugo Monye, 10 Nick Evans, 9 Danny Care, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Chris Robshaw (capt), 6 Maurie Fa'asavalu, 5 George Robson, 4 Olly Kohn, 3 James Johnston, 2 Joe Gray, 1 Joe Marler.
Replacements: 16 Rob Buchanan, 17 Mark Lambert, 18 Will Collier, 19 Tomas Vallejos, 20 Tom Guest, 21 Karl Dickson, 22 Rory Clegg, 23 Matt Hopper.

Leicester: 15 Geordan Murphy (capt), 14 Horacio Agulla, 13 Manusamoa Tuilagi, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Steve Mafi, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 George Skivington, 3 Dan Cole, 2 George Chuter, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 Tom Youngs, 17 Logovi'i Mulipola, 18 Martin Castrogiovanni, 19 Graham Kitchener, 20 Craig Newby, 21 Sam Harrison, 22 Toby Flood, 23 Scott Hamilton.


No comments: