By John Jennings
April 15 2005

This is the big one! The leading premiership team visits Vicarage Road for the last scheduled home game of the season, and the prospect is mouth-watering. We will see up to 8 members of the England World Cup-winning squad and 10 international captains, including 6 who have captained England. Depending on final selection and substitutions, we could see the holders of almost 1,000 caps playing. And Leicester have paid us the compliment of bringing their strongest pack, despite the continued absence of our magnificent tight-head Cobus Visagie.

But the match will not be won and lost on statistics. There are a lot of forward battles to be fought and the line-up gets the hairs standing up on the back of my neck. Kevin Yates meets Julian White. How will Bros cope with the experience of Rowntree? Big Simon and Ches will certainly not allow themselves to be pushed around by Johnson and Kay, and it would be no surprise to see the handbags out at some point. Cec faces a considerable challenge in Will Johnson, and Vyvs will want to keep Corry out of the game, not to mention having designs on the England No 8 shirt, but my eyes will be on King Richard versus the inimitable Neil Back. That should be one for the connoisseurs.

Look behind the scrum, and it just gets better! Bracks against young fireball Harry Ellis; and does Thomas have a personal reason for being at 10 opposite Andy Goode, recently departed this parish? When Tevi meets Tuilagi (as he surely will, since Tevi wears 11 but plays right wing) I think the impact will be felt in the furthest corner of the ground, and at centre, Chopper Harris and Kev will be keen to make their presence felt with messrs Cornwell and Gibson. Johnston against Murphy and Bart against Sam Vesty complete the list.

Every contest will be important, many of them with a bigger, or more personal, point to prove.

Tigers will be bringing a big crowd of supporters, and the stadium hasn’t been so full for several years (at least, for rugby). It is VITAL and ESSENTIAL that our team hear our voices. We need to sing loud and long, but most of all TOGETHER. We can give more than a good account of ourselves here: we can win, and if we do, our route into next year’s Heineken Cup is almost assured. Whatever happens in the game, WE can make a difference.

Saracens:

Mark Barholomeusz; Ben Johnston, Kevin Sorrell, Dan Harris, Tevita Vaikona; Thomas Castaignede, Kyran Bracken; Kevin Yates, Raphael Ibanez, Ben Broster; Kris Chesney, Simon Raiwalui; Dave Seymour, Richard Hill, Hugh Vyvyan (c)

Leicester Tigers:

Sam Vesty; Geordan Murphy, Matt Cornwell, Daryl Gibson, Alex Tuliagi; Andy Goode, Harry Ellis; Graham Rowntree, George Chuter, Julian White; Martin Johnson (c), Ben Kay; Will Johnson, Neil Back, Martin Corry.

Referee: Chris White (Cheltenham)