Australian Super 14 outfit Western Force will travel to Welford Road on August 30, with a mouth-watering fixture against the Ospreys given added impetus by Tuesday morning’s Heineken Cup draw which paired both teams together in Pool 3 of the competition.
The match against Western Force will be Tigers’ first at Welford Road since the nail-biting win over Harlequins on May 10, with John Mitchell’s side choosing Leicester as the venue to conclude their five-week tour of the UK.
2006 Heineken Cup finalists Biarritz Olympique will be Tigers’ opposition on the weekend of August 15/16/17 as they travel to France for what will be another strong test prior to the start of the season.
Tigers begin their pre-season fixtures with the first of three away matches when they take on local rivals Nottingham on the weekend of August 8/9/10 in a repeat of last year’s Welford Road match up.
“The four teams in question represent a really tough and exciting combination of fixtures,” said Tigers managing director David Clayton. “We have three challenging away matches which will prepare the squad well for what we hope will be a successful season ahead, before we face the Western Force at home in our final pre-season fixture. We expect this to be a great occasion and we look forward to playing against opposition whom we have never met before. We hope supporters will be excited by the prospect of facing Super 14 opposition and we look forward to welcoming them all back to Welford Road on August 30.”
Pre-season fixtures
Nottingham vs Tigers – weekend of August 8/9/10
Biarritz vs Tigers – weekend of August 15/16/17
Ospreys vs Tigers - Saturday, August 23
Tigers vs Western Force - Saturday, August 30
Full dates and kick-off times will be updated as soon as they have been finalised.
