Whilst I’ve been a rugby fan since the mid-80s it has predominantly been for the international game with only a smattering of club matches thrown in from time to time. Despite this I have always claimed that I am a Leicester Tigers fan but my support for them is very different to that of the city’s football team.

Following the Tigers for me has pretty much been one of just checking their results, seeing highlights on the news (back in the day) or YouTube (in more modern times) with the occasional live game here and there, particularly cup finals. Back around 2010 though I did have a sports channel which showed live Premiership rugby action from the UK so I did see quite a few Leicester Tigers games around that time.

In the last decade or so my interest in club rugby has increased, particularly here in Japan where I have begun to regularly attend Rugby League One matches which in turn has led to an increased interest in the game and subsequently following the Tigers a little bit more closely.

As soon as knew I was going to be back in the UK for the first time in six years I looked at the sports schedules for all the local teams during the festive period. Whilst Leicester City had three home games, the Tigers sadly only had one match on their own turf so I set my sights on getting a ticket for that in early January which would mark my long-awaited return to their Welford Stadium stadium for the first time since 2003!!

During the early months of that year, I was working just a few minutes on foot from the Welford Road and so I did go to see a couple of matches on the back of some occasional Saturday morning shifts. There was actually a chance six years ago when they played on the same day as Leicester City but I wanted to absorb the foxes’ FA Cup match in full rather than rushing between the two stadiums. In hindsight though I wish I had seen the Tigers at 3:00 pm followed by City at 5:30 pm. Back in the present there was thankfully no choice to make as they both played on separate days.

The walk from Leicester Railway station and across Nelson Mandela Park was so familiar but with a different feeling to when I go to watch Leicester City whose stadium is located a bit further on along the same initial route.

It was a bitterly cold afternoon, so the Tigers club shop was even more appealing. It was interesting to see what it was like compared to the football team’s one. All manner of scarlet, green and white goods were on sale but I guess I was a bit shocked to see some home shirts on sale for 120 pounds!

A short detour over the road from the stadium is a cool mural which I wanted to see.

Inside the stadium I was trying to look as if I knew where I was going but it actually took me a while to work out where my seat was before realising it was right where I came in!

There was no real feeling of nostalgia having only ever been inside the stadium a few times. What I did love though was the old-fashioned feel of four individual stands.

Welford and Stealth appeared in the countdown to kick off and so I pushed a load of kids out of the way * to get my own photo of the two mascots! (* Not true!)

The home side entered the field to the iconic guitar riffs of ‘Smoke on the Water‘ by Deep Purple as anticipation of the fans built up.

This league match was a repeat of the 2022 Premiership final between Leicester and Saracens which saw the former win the title in dramatic fashion with a last-minute drop goal from Freddie Burns.

Tigers were off to a flyer with a couple of tries in the first 12 minutes before Saracens got one back. An absolutely glorious try on 27 minutes had the home crowd on their feet. It began with Leicester defending on their own 22 metre line and ended up with fly-half Billy Searle weaving his way through the opposition before kicking it forward for Adam Radwan to pick up and finish in fine style with a dramatic dive into the corner. I was actually making a short video for Insta stories in the buildup to this try but stopped recording before the real excitement. Had I not done that I would’ve had a poor-quality video of a great try taken from a poor angle!!

Another try was added before the break to get the bonus point for scoring four tries. It was 26-7 at half time and was a really wonderful half of rugby but sadly for me it had all happened down the other end of the pitch! A breakaway try for Radwan around the hour mark did happen in front of me and put the game to bed or so we thought!

Saracens scored a couple of tries to get their bonus point and make it seem a lot closer than it really was. There was also the addition of some light snow falling in the second half as the temperature dropped further. The guy next to me had the right idea maybe as he sneaked in a sizable bottle of whiskey which he polished off after adding it to his frequent hot drinks.

As the closing stages of the game were taking place my thoughts turned to getting the train back. The 5:00 pm train would’ve meant rushing off to the station 5-10 minutes before the final whistle whilst the latter one (5:45 pm) allowed for more time in the freezing cold conditions! As it was a one-off, I decided to hang around, and it proved to be a very good decision.

Final Score: Leicester Tigers 36-28 Saracens

It was absolutely freezing by this stage as I briefly interacted with fly-half Orlando Bailey, winger Gabriel Hamer-Webb and scrum-halves Jack van Poortvliet and Ollie Allan. I was really not expecting to be able to meet players at this level so was not prepared which has resulted in some terrible shots of me but that’s what happens when you’ve only got a couple of seconds to take them!

Click here to read ‘I Met a Leicester Tigers & England Rugby Union Legend’

Click here to read ‘Witnessing History as England Play a Rugby Match in Japan for the First Time In 45 Years!’

Bonus: Less than a week later I was back in Japan and having finished work very early one day I was able to attend the Urayasu D-Rocks home game against Yokohama Canon Eagles at Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium in Minato-ku. For a Leicester connection, D-Rocks are now managed by Leicester legend Graham Rowntree and their number 8 is the South African Jasper Wiese who played a starring role in the aforementioned 2022 Premiership final.

It turned out to be a great game and followed a similar pattern to the Leicester Tigers one with the home team scoring multiple first half tries. This one was far nervier though as the six-point advantage with 20 minutes remaining meant a converted try would win it for Yokohama. I was pretty much resigned to that happening but surprisingly D-Rocks held firm to take the win.

Final Score: Urayasu D-Rocks 28-22 Yokohama Canon Eagles

Click here to read ‘TF Top 10……Rugby Match Experiences of 2025’

Click here to read ‘TF Top 10……Rugby Match Experiences of 2024’