Leinster’s superior backs can tame Tigers

RICHARD COCKERILL wasn’t the first Leicester coach to dismiss the significance of an iconic Irish stadium when he glossed over the return of five of his players to the Aviva this evening so soon after their Six Nations trauma with England.

Four years ago, one of his predecessors looked ahead to a sixth round pool game against Munster in Limerick and, rather than genuflect at the Thomond altar like many, Pat Howard labelled the ground “just a field”.

Within days, the East Midlands club had become the first to get the better of the Irish province in their spiritual home in European competition and they return to Ireland this week with a record of two wins from two visits (1996 and 2005) at the old Lansdowne Road. More important than all the history is the knowledge that the Tigers have won six of their last games on the road since the New Year with the one loss an insignificant LV Cup reversal suffered by a youthful second-string against the Exeter Chiefs.