Leicester legend Moody backs former club to win East Midlands semi-final
Premiership rugby semi-finals come around twice a year, but an East Midlands knockout match comes around far fewer than that.
The last time Leicester Tigers and Northampton Saints faced off in an end-of-season top-four clash nearly a decade ago, it was the Black, Green and Golds who came out on top.
But tomorrow, in the 249th meeting between the age-old rivals, Leicester legend Lewis Moody is backing his former side to clinch their place at next week’s final.
“It will be physically brutal,” 71-cap former England flanker Moody told City PM “It will hopefully be impassioned. and everything that we’d want the local derby to be.
“This will be closer to start with and then I think the Tigers will have too much firepower at home with a full stadium.
“They’re in such great form and with all of the stories [surrounding the fixture] and the emotions that will be riding behind it, I think Tigers are going to be too strong.”
Leicester and Saints have history
The East Midlands derby forms the second act of tomorrow’s double header, with Saracens hosting Harlequins in the London derby at lunchtime.
The cards have fallen kindly for neutrals, who not only get two high-quality semi-finals but two intense derbies too.
Northampton’s history with their local foe dates back to the 1800s but whenever the pair meet a new chapter of the rivalry is written.
“There’s so much else going on coming into it as well,” Moody, who played 223 times for Leicester, added. “You look at Tigers and their historic record breaking run this year of being top after every round so far.
“[They’ve scored] 94 points and they’re unbeaten at home and there’s so much noise around the match, too.
“And the fact that Tigers beat Saints quite convincingly in the last two games means Saints would love nothing more than to beat the Tigers in their own backyard.”
Both sides take intriguing subplots into this fixture. For Leicester, there are Ellis Genge and George Ford’s last games for the club, the emotion of the recent passing of former captain Tom Young’s wife, and the last home game of a potentially unbeaten season.
For Northampton, Tom Wood is retiring from the club, there are a number of other club stalwarts moving on, and director of rugby Chris Boyd is relinquishing his role to take up a new position in New Zealand.
Underdogs
“Saints are complete underdogs,” said former British and Irish Lion Moody. “There’s no doubt about it, they have everything to play for.
“They can just go out and unleash. Sometimes not having the burden of pressure and expectation of success and the tag of favourites can be really releasing.”
And speaking like a true forward, flanker Moody says it’s going to be the packs who decide how much of a platform the backs get.
“I think the characters within both those forward packs need to come to the fore,” he said. “They need to make sure that their side really starts with a dominance that is unrivalled.
“It starts at the front row for me and it’s as simple as that.”
Despite Northampton ending a four-year spell of unbeaten Leicester dominance in the early part of Moody’s career, the former player’s memory of the fixture reflects the supremacy his old side have historically tended to enjoy.
“This is going to sound unbelievably arrogant,” he said. “But I don’t recall them being that difficult.
“Playing Saints was always a joyous occasion because you knew it was going to be fierce, especially in the early days.”
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