West: Saints not in awe of the Tigers' roar

Dorian West admits Leicester Tigers are '˜looking dangerous' - but he insists Saints are not in awe of their east midlands rivals.
Dorian West is confident Saints can beat Leicester (picture: Sharon Lucey)Dorian West is confident Saints can beat Leicester (picture: Sharon Lucey)
Dorian West is confident Saints can beat Leicester (picture: Sharon Lucey)

Tigers smashed Stade Francais in the Champions Cup quarter-finals on Sunday, scoring six tries on their way to an impressive 41-13 success.

Leicester boss Richard Cockerill has warned his team will head to Franklin’s Gardens ‘fully loaded’ for Saturday evening’s crucial Aviva Premiership showdown.

But forwards coach West is confident Saints have the men to match, and eclipse, their bitter foes, saying: “We’re not a bad team. We’re not in awe of Leicester Tigers at all. We know that when we get our game right, we’re a good test for anyone.

“I’m sure they’ll be looking at us closely and making sure they’ve done their homework to snuff out the things we’re good at. It will be a good game, there will be a good crowd and hopefully we’ll do ourselves justice.”

On Leicester’s win against Stade Francais, West said: “They’re looking dangerous.

“They’ve got a lot of good runners in their team, as well as that streetwise pack of forwards. They’re perhaps causing a few more problems out wide this year than they have in the past, so we know we need to have a good all-round game to compete with them.”

If Saints lose on Saturday, their hopes of finishing in the top four would be all but extinguished.

Tigers sit four points ahead of Jim Mallinder’s men with three games to go.

But West said: “Top four’s the goal, but we need to make sure we keep our thoughts fully on playing the game and making sure we cause Leicester as many problems as possible.”