Cup of Cheer

Leicester’s Scott Hamilton is after a rare double of Super 14 and Heineken Cup medals in consecutive years. He compared rugby in both hemispheres with Edward Newman

LEICESTER Tigers pride themselves on rarely, if ever, getting a signing wrong. And they’ve always been careful in choosing who they bring from the southern hemisphere.

Take this triumvirate of players likely to feature on their starting XV in tomorrow’s Heineken Cup Final against Leinster: scrum-half Julien Dupuy has illuminated both the Premiership and Heineken Cup but came from a Biarritz squad where he spent most of the time deputising for Dimitri Yachvili. Craig Newby, formerly of the Otago Highlanders, is a quality No 6 but struggled to make the ultimate breakthrough with the All Blacks, while Scott Hamilton is another player who was unlucky to be around at the same time as so many talented New Zealand wingers.