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Is this the weekend that could turn Leicester Tigers' miserable season around?

Manu Tuilagi has returned to the Leicester line-up (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

Leicester Tigers are in unfamiliar territory this weekend as it is the first time they are not in Europe’s elite competition. 

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They face Pau in the Challenge Cup on Saturday at Welford Road in their debut outing in that competition. While this is new ground for them, the situation that the club are in is all too familiar to fans over the past year. 

The fallen European giants faced a tough season in 2018/19, finishing eleventh in the Gallagher Premiership and failing to make it out of their pool in the Champions Cup. 

This season is not looking better, as they already sit at the foot of the English league table. 

However, this weekend could mark a change in fortunes for the Tigers, as England’s World Cup stars return. George Ford, Manu Tuilagi, Ben Youngs and Dan Cole all start while Ellis Genge, who was also in Eddie Jones’ squad, is on the bench. 

https://twitter.com/sfox655/status/1195313876121923589?s=20

Leicester fans are signalling this as the game where their season is turned around, as the likes of Ford and Tuilagi are in sensational form off the back of their displays in Japan. 

With newcomers Jordan Taufua and Tomas Lavanini quickly growing accustomed to life in the Midlands (although the Kiwi misses this game with a head injury), it is no wonder why so many feel that this shaky start to the season is only a minor blip. 

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Although Leicester have only won one game this season in the league, only four have been played, which means Geordan Murphy’s side can still mount a resurgence. 

There was a lot of hope over the summer with some extensive recruitment to both the squad and the coaching staff, and while the season has not started the way that anyone in Leicester would have wanted, the campaign is young and it could kick start on Saturday. 

WATCH: RugbyPass takes a look behind the scenes at the Leicester Tigers’ player academy.

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AM 4 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

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