LAST 10 DOMESTIC CUP SEMI-FINALS 2024 Ealing (a) won 29-21 2022 London Irish (a) lost 20-59 2017 Saracens (a) won 32-10 2015 Exeter (h) lost 22-30 2012 Bath (a) won 17-16 2008 Wasps (Cardiff) won 34-24 2007 Sale (Cardiff) won 29-19

OTD: 1985 Tigers 35 (Hare 1t 3c 1p 1d, Cusworth 1t 1d, Redfern 1t, Woodward 1t) Harlequins 19 Welford Road, 2 March Ex-Tiger (1975-77, 19 apps) and England (1981-87, 10 caps) Marcus Rose is back in Leicester, following returns with Coventry and Rosslyn Park.

DARYL PETER EARL GIBSON Born on 2 March 1975, All Black, Super Rugby champion and Premiership winner Darryl Gibson.

ANTHONY OLLASON RUSS The first professional full time coach for Leicester was Tony Russ. Born in March 1946, Russ arrived from coaching Saracens, joining as head coach in June 1990.

OTD: POWERGEN CUP 2003 Tigers 11 (Kronfeld 1t, Stimpson 2p) Gloucester 16 Semi-final Franklin’s Garden’s, 1 March Same old Leicester always cheating? Tigers’ nemesis, the 70+ minute uncontested scrum, judged by their nemesis, Steve Lander, prevented an attempt for a winning pushover try.

OTD: FIVE NATIONS 1986 England 25 (Davies 1t, Richards 2t, Penalty 1t, Andrew 3c 3p) Ireland 20 (McCall 1t, Mullin 1t, Ringland 1t, Kiernan 1c 2p) Twickenham, 1 March A two-try debut for Dean Richards, congratulated by Rory Underwood. He would’ve had a third but it was awarded as a penalty try.

OTD: 1996 Tigers 30 (Hamilton 2t, West 1t, Cudmore 1t, Jones 2c 2p) Nottingham 15 Welford Road, 1 March Nottingham dropped out of the top division in 1992. So it was just club matches between the sides, with a last official game in 1997 before the cup games of 2024-25.

Not Quite OTD: GALLAGHER PREMIERSHIP 2020 Tigers 14 (Olowofela 1t, McPhillips 3p) Worcester Warriors 8 Welford Road, 29 February There wouldn’t have been many in the 18,268 crowd anticipating this would be the last home fixture in front spectators for 15 months.

Tigers v Bath in the cup. Like the old days.

OTD: JOHN PLAYER CUP 1987 Tigers 19 (Evans 1t, Charles 1t, Hare 1c 2p, Cusworth 1d) Gosforth 6 Fourth round Welford Road, 28 February Winners in 1976 and 1977, and runners-up to the Tigers in 1981, old cup rivals are back. They are now rebadged as Newcastle Red Bulls.

OTD: JOHN PLAYER CUP 1981 Tigers 27 (Williams 1t, Smith 1t, Hare 2c 5p) Bristol 14 Fourth round Welford Road, 28 February If Tigers are going to complete a cup hat-trick they’ll have to go through some tough opponents and muddy conditions.

OTD: PILKINGTON CUP 1993 Tigers 76 (Povoas 1t, T Underwood 4t, Back 1t, Richards 2t, Potter 1t, Liley 2t 4c 1p, R Underwood 1t, Cockerill 1t, Grewcock 1t) Exeter 0 Quarter-final Welford Road, 27 February A game versus the Chiefs was once a very different proposition to today.

OTD: JOHN PLAYER CUP 1982 Northampton 10 Tigers 23 (Barnwell 1t, Hare 1t 1c 3p, Evans 1t) Fourth round Franklin’s Gardens, 27 February Going for four cup wins in a row, Tigers tee up a repeat of the 1981 final, a quarter-final against Gosforth.

OWEN WILLIAMS Born on 27 February 1992, Owen Williams made nearly a century of Leicester appearances over four seasons.

OTD: TETLEY’S BITTER CUP 1999 Richmond 15 Tigers 13 (Back 1t, Corry 1t, Stimpson 1p) Quarter-final Madejski Stadium, 27 February This was the last Tigers game against Richmond; they were ‘merged’ with London Scottish into London Irish that summer.

Sam Vesty played his final game for Leicester at Northampton on 27 February 2010 in a 3-19 defeat. It was the 166th match for the latest representative of four generations of Tigers. bsky.app/profile/hist...

OTD: PILKINGTON CUP 1994 Tigers 12 (Harris 3p 1d) Moseley 6 Quarter-final Welford Road, 26 February 10,000 see the old cup rivals defeated, and a semi-final trip to bogey side Orrell awaits.

OTD: 1966 Tigers 16 (Bird 1t, Bussey 1t, Harrison 1t, Walton 1t, Chilton 2c) Northampton 11 Welford Road, 26 February The visit by the near neighbours posts the biggest home attendance of the season outside of the Barbarians fixture: 2,344.

PAUL WILLIAM DODGE Born on 26 February 1958, Paul Dodge first played for Leicester as a 17 year-old. Possessed of powerful frame and boot, by the time he finished he would have played for the Lions, captained England, and led the Tigers to the inaugural league title.

OTD: 1997 Tigers 22 (Jelley 2t, Kardooni 1t, J Liley 2c 1p) Barbarians 38 Welford Road, 25 February Dean Richards makes his 300th club appearance, but it’s becoming harder to fit the invitation games into a professional fixture list.

OTD: 1984 Tigers 25 (Cusworth 2t, Richards 2t, Evans 1t, Hare 1c 1p) Rosslyn Park 16 Welford Road, 25 February Defeated before a cup semi-final for the first time since 1977, Park fill the fixture list gap. They bring a Leicester old boy at fullback and a BBC Superstar at No. 8.

OTD: 1939 Tigers 14 (Bottrill 1t, Henderson 1t, Parsons 1t, Treharne 1t, Squibbs 1c) Northampton 14 Welford Road, 25 February After two previous Tigers wins, 4,000 see the third meeting of the season between the sides. Meanwhile the storm clouds of war etc…

OTD: PILKINGTON CUP 1989 Tigers 22 (Underwood 1t, Hare 4p Cusworth 2d) Wasps 18 Quarter-final Welford Road, 25 February Some revenge for the defeat at the ground in the 1987 semi-final. Tigers would go on to play equally familiar opponents Harlequins and Bath.

OTD: JOHN PLAYER CUP 1978 Tigers 25 (Barker 1t, Kenney 1t, Forfar 1t, Hare 2c 3p) Rosslyn Park 16 Second round Welford Road, 25 February From the first season in 1971, Tigers wouldn’t host a home a cup tie until 1978. They then took advantage to win all four home games to reach Twickenham.

Bish, bash, BOSH youtu.be/djNTw0u8w6Y?...

OTD: PILKINGTON CUP 1996 Tigers 24 (Kardooni 1t, Garforth 1t, Liley 1c 4p) Harlequins 9 Quarter-final Welford Road, 24 February Tigers extend their winning run to 15 games, and set up a semi-final at London Irish.

WILLIAM THOMAS KENNETH MOORE Bill Moore was born on 24 February 1921. He was a Leicester captain and scrum-half for England.

OTD: PILKINGTON CUP 1990 Northampton 23 Tigers 7 (Evans 1t, Liley 1p) Quarter-final Franklin’s Gardens, 24 February It’s a nightmare in Northampton, as Tigers lose not only to their neighbours, but to a Second Division side.

ALESANA TUILAGI ‘Alex’ Tuilagi was born on 24 February 1981. He became the third of the Tuilagi family to play for Leicester, joining from Parma in 2004 and making his debut versus Leeds that September.

OTD: JOHN PLAYER CUP 1979 Tigers 30 (Dodge 1t, Adey 1t, Cusworth 1t, Smith 1t, Hare 1c 3p 1d) Broughton Park 7 Second round Welford Road, 24 February After also beating Northampton, Tigers are now three games away from lifting their first national cup.

OTD: JOHN PLAYER CUP 1985 Liverpool 9 Tigers 37 (Evans 2t, Wells 1t, Underwood 1t, Hare 3c 3p, Cusworth 2d) Fourth round St Michael’s, 23 February The original Liverpool FC was founded 35 years before the other one. In 1986 they would merge with St Helens.

OTD: AVIVA PREMIERSHIP 2014 London Irish 15 Tigers 20 (B Youngs 1t, Goneva 1t, Mulipola, 1t, O Williams 1c 1p) Madejski Stadium, 23 February Ed Slater captains the Tigers for the first time as they move up to fourth place.

OTD: CHELTENHAM & GLOUCESTER CUP 1998 Tigers 62 (Murphy 2t, Stransky 1t 6c, Read 1t, Lloyd 3t, Corry 1t, West 1t, Hamilton 1t, Poole 1t) London Irish 21 Quarter-final Welford Road, 22 February A first game for new ‘Rugby Manager’ Dean Richards. Tigers will face Gloucester in the semi-final.

JEREMY CHARLES HARRIS Born on 22 February 1965, Jez Harris first played for Leicester in 1984 and had a 12 year career with the club.

Hmmm BBC. Petition to normalise the concept of the PREM Cup being the continuation of the domestic cup competition that started in the 1971-72 season.

Two match points to stay here for the semi-final. Three points to be top seeded for a potential home final. Kick-off is 4pm.

Still in it. HT: Tigers 12 Trailfinders 21

Kicking-off and streaming on the YouTubes at 1.15pm. www.youtube.com/live/eR6fe2X...

OTD: GUINNESS PREMIERSHIP 2009 Tigers 38 (Ayerza 1t, Smith 1t, Tuilagi 1t, Vesty 1t 3c, Youngs 1t, Dupuy 2c 1p) Worcester Warriors 5 Welford Road, 21 February A comfortable win for the Tigers, only putting a foot wrong by risking rousing pedants in writing 2008 on the programme spine.

OTD: ZURICH PREMIERSHIP 2004 London Irish 9 Tigers 22 (Gibson 1t, Goode 1c 4p 1d) Madejski Stadium, 21 February Geordan Murphy returns five months after breaking his leg in a World Cup warm-up match. The impact of the RWC leaves Tigers still down in ninth place.

TIGERS v HARLEQUINS They met repeatedly when the domestic cup was all knock-out, and now again when there’s only ten teams. First Game: 28 Dec 1895 (h) lost 0-6 Most Recent: 24 Jan 2026 (a) won 34-7 Overall: P219 W123 D11 L85 League: P69 W46 D2 L21 Domestic Cups: P18 W12 D0 L6 Europe: P1 W1 D0 L0

TIGERS WOMEN v TRAILFINDERS A busy day at MWWR on Saturday starts at lunchtime. First Game: 9 Dec 2023 (a) lost 7-36 Most Recent: 13 Dec 2025 (a) lost 10-57 Overall: P6 W1 D0 L5 League: P5 W1 D0 L4 Domestic Cups: P1 W0 D0 L1

OTD: COURAGE LEAGUE 1988 Orrell 30 Tigers 6 (Hare 2p) Edge Hall Road, 20 February The Tigers rarely had a good time at Orrell. Despite winning all their other league games in 1987-88 they still took a pasting. Even with the presence of the experienced A.N. Other.

OTD: GALLAGHER PREMIERSHIP 2023 Tigers 24 (Pollard 1t 3c 1p, Henderson 1t, Brown 1t) Saracens 18 Mattioli Woods Welford Road, 19 February Tigers host the leaders in a make or break game if they are to reach the play-offs. Mike Brown shines, scoring a debut try.

OTD: 1983 Tigers 18 (Johnson 1t, Richards 1t, Hare 2c 2p) Orrell 12 Welford Road, 19 February Orrell were something of a bogey side for the Tigers in the 1980s, but not on this day.

OTD: AVIVA PREMIERSHIP 2017 Tigers 50 (Cilliers 1t, O Williams 1t 5c, Pietersen 2t, Veainu 1t, O’Connor 1t, Thompstone 1t, Bateman 1t) Bristol 17 Welford Road, 18 February It’s the biggest league win of the season, though Tigers would never climb above fourth place and lost in the semi-final.

OTD: FIVE NATIONS 1984 England 12 (Hare 3p, Cusworth 1d) Ireland 9 (Ward 3p) Twickenham, 18 February Seven Tigers play - an unusually high amount for a club in the day - and score all England’s points. Rory Underwood and Steve Redfern (off the bench) make debuts.

OTD: 1981 Tigers 22 (Jackson 1t, Johnson 1t, Williams 1t, Cusworth 2c 1p, Key 1p) Royal Navy 12 Welford Road, 18 February First playing in 1919, it was the annual fixture for wags in the crowd of 1,242 to joke about bringing subs on.

LAST 10 v QUINS For a home semi-final. 24 Jan 26 (a) won 34-7 4 Oct 25 (h) won 29-19 19 Sep 25 (a) won 25-17* 26 Apr 25 (h) won 40-7 28 Dec 24 (a) draw 34-34 26 Jan 24 (a) won 20-19 11 Nov 23 (h) lost 25-29 6 May 23 (h) lost 17-20 16 Oct 22 (a) lost 19-27 23 Apr 22 (a) lost 20-26 *PREM Cup