News

Corry focused on Wasps double

Tuesday 25th March 2008

Instant Replay: Tigers and Wasps set to face-off at Welford Road this weekend

Leicester Tigers are anticipating another bruising Guinness Premiership battle with London Wasps at Welford Road on Saturday.

Just seven days after the Tigers made it two EDF Energy Cup finals in as many years at the expense of their rivals, the sides go head-to-head as another prize is now on the agenda.

Wasps had recently held something of a cup stranglehold over the Tigers, notably their dominant Heineken Cup final performance at Twickenham back in May.

And now captain Martin Corry is convinced that Wasps' pride will be dented following the 34-24 loss at the Millennium Stadium, insisting home advantage will not hinder Lawrence Dallaglio's men.

"They will be hurting. The rivalry between the two sides has been going on for a decade," he said, speaking to the Leicester Mercury.

Corry was in dominant form at the weekend and his combination with Ben Herring and Tom Croft was a key component of the success.

"In the first 20 minutes, we had lots of possession and lots of territory without getting anything," he added.

"Then the points came. We showed what the defence of the EDF Cup meant to us. I was delighted with our attitude.

"The way we started made a statement of intent. We gave away two soft tries but that did not detract from our determination. Every week we do our homework and, when we had the opportunity to target the line-out, we did it."

The Tigers remain on course for a second successive double of EDF Cup and Guinness Premiership titles in Head Coach Marcelo Loffreda's debut season.

But forward Corry is refusing to get carried away with his side currently sitting behind Bath and Gloucester at the Premiership summit.

"We are not thinking about the final nor the rest of the league season," he said.

"We shall just be focusing on Wasps again."

Meanwhile, Tigers prop Martin Castrogiovanni believes Saturday's opponents will be an even tougher proposition this time around.

The Italian international has been in fine try-scoring form of late and capped a strong individual performance in Cardiff with a well-taken score.

And the Azzurri prop believes Leicester must up their game if they are to claim the points at Welford Road.

"Next week will be even harder because they lost this game,'' he said.

"They will come with the mentality that they have to win. We must put in a big effort and stay focused, we cannot relax because they will bring a big, big side.

"To beat them was good for the team. Over the last few weeks we haven't played great, but the team stayed focused and we played really good rugby.

"It was also important for the club because we still have the chance to win two more trophies.

"We must try to play at the same level as we played with on Saturday and not allow ourselves to drop down."