Having come through the system at Warriors Women, today's match was a strange one for Roisin McBrien.
She was not only facing old friends but the Tigers vice-captain was doing so as a very different player to the one that left the Worcestershire side as an 18 year old.
"I think I've developed hugely. When I was there, I was 18 and it felt like I wouldn't even carry the ball in, I felt like I was hiding on the pitch. My confidence, comparatively, is through the roof".
This was the second match Tigers have played in the cup and finishes the club's first 160 minutes of top-flight action. Although falling to defeat in their opening fixtures, there were positives in both performances that will be taken into the remaining two fixtures, away to Bristol Bears and at home to Exeter Chiefs at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.
"I don't think a win is too far out of reach even if it isn't our main goal. We need to be more clinical on our set-piece, we need to make our tackles first time. We know where we need to be, we just need to get there
"It's vital that the whole squad get minutes at this level as playing against Premiership opposition is the best way to develop as a squad. We want to use this competition as the catalyst to refine us for Allianz Premiership Women's Rugby, to get a taste of the intensity and standard we have to reach as a squad.
At times it felt like Tigers were right on top of the match and everything was coming together, but the side just couldn't keep the momentum rolling.
"I think we can definitely take a lot of confidence from the game. The second half was a lot better, I thought, set-piece certainly sharper; it's about having that confidence that we can go out there and take the game to the opposition and score tries. Simply put, we just need to do that more and concede less.
"We scored five tries today, which is not an easy task against that Warriors team. We feel that scoreline doesn't reflect the game and it's on us now to be cutting out those mistakes, those silly errors. If you'd have offered us that scoreline a few months ago we'd likely have leapt at it and yet we're coming away disappointed because we know we have so much more in us."
