Sky Live: Leicester Tigers v Racing 92 Champions Cup preview
Watch live on Sky Sports Arena from 12.45pm on Sunday
Last Updated: 21/01/18 4:59pm
Racing 92 travel to play Leicester in Welford Road knowing that a bonus-point win could see them finish as the No 1 seeded team ahead of the Champions Cup quarter-final draw.
Form
Leicester LLLWL
Under-fire Leicester have won just one of their last six league games and they have now failed to make the knock-out stages of the Champions Cup for the second successive season. In the Aviva Premiership, Leicester are currently in eighth position on 32 points and four adrift of Newcastle in sixth, which is the last of the automatic qualification places for next season's Champions Cup.
Racing 92 WWWWW
A new stadium, five wins from their last five outings and a performance of real substance to wrestle victory from Munster last weekend, Racing 92 have much to celebrate right now. They will be eager to finish the pool stages with a flourish and get the most favourable home quarter-final draw possible.
Most recent outing
Leicester 39-0 Castres
Racing 34-30 Munster
An immense kicking display by skipper Maxime Machenaud, including two penalties in the closing four minutes, gave Racing 92 a 34-30 win over Munster, who still lead the French outfit by a single point in Pool 4. Late in the game, Racing had an opportunity to go for a bonus-point try but they opted for three points from a penalty two minutes from time.
Last meeting
Racing 22-18 Leicester
Leicester's European campaign started somewhat positively when they picked up a losing bonus point in their defeat to Racing in Paris. Fly-half George Ford had kept Racing honest kicking a penalty to narrow the scores late on. For the French, Leone Nakarawa, Bernard Le Roux and Teddy Thomas were the home side's scorers as Teddy Iribaren kicked two conversions and Maxime Machenaud added a penalty.
Key player
Leicester
Ben Youngs has been the one good news story to come of Leicester this week following confirmation the England scrum-half has signed a new deal. More than ever his leadership is required to help steer a side still speckled with the real quality in the form of George Ford and Manu Tuilagi.
Racing 92
Maxime Machenaud kicked seven out of eight penalties in Racing's win over Munster and this performance was no exception with the scrum-half successful from six of seven kicks against Clermont the previous weekend. The captain is a key player for Racing and one in inspired form.
Pre-match thoughts
Matt O'Connor (Head Coach)
"The noise outside the environment is something you can't control. The truly important part is that the guys in the environment have a form of belief and clarity about what we're doing. It's not as good as we'd like it to be, which is frustrating and disappointing and all those emotions.But you can't do anything about it except work harder and make sure you get it right at the weekend."
Team news
Leicester: 15 Mathew Tait , 14 Nick Malouf, 13 Manu Tuilagi , 12 Matt Toomua , 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford (c) 9 Ben Youngs, 1 Greg Bateman, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 3 Dan Cole, 4 Harry Wells, 5 Graham Kitchener, 6 Mike Williams, 7 Brendon O'Connor, 8 Sione Kalamafoni
Replacements: 16 Tom Youngs, 17 Michele Rizzo, 18 Logovi'i Mulipola, 19 Mike Fitzgerald, 20 Valentino Mapapalangi, 21 Sam Harrison, 22 Joe Ford, 23 Adam Thompstone
Racing 92: 15 Brice Dulin, 14 Teddy Thomas, 13 Virimi Vakatawa, 12 Henry Chavancy, 10 Remi Tales, 9 Maxime Machenaud (c), 1 Eddy Ben Arous, 2 Camile Chat, 3 Ben Tameifuna, 4 Dnnacha Ryan, 5 Manuel Carizza, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 7 Yannick Nyanga, 8 Leone Nakarawa
Replacements: 16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Vasil Kakovin, 18 Cedate Gomes Sa, 19 Baptiste Chouzenoux, 20 Boris Palu, 21 Teddy Iribaren, 22 Dan Carter, 23 Louis Duichot
Watch Leicester v Racing 92 live on Sky Sports Action from 1pm on Sunday.
