Leicester Tigers vs Newcastle Red Bulls Prediction: Red Bulls no match for Tigers

Leicester Tigers will look to respond from their East Midlands derby defeat to Northampton Saints when they host Newcastle Red Bulls in the Prem Rugby Cup on Friday night (19:45, TNT Sports 1).

Alex Jack provides his best bets in his Leicester Tigers vs Newcastle Red Bulls prediction piece, as well as all the essential team news and match odds for the encounter at Welford Road.

Team News

Starting with Leicester, the Tigers have a front row of Cameron Miell, Finn Theobald-Thomas and Ale Loman, with locks Harry Wells and Tom Manz in behind.

Harry Palmer, Josh Manz and skipper Hanro Liebenberg complete the pack, while Charlie Bemand and Tom Whiteley start in the half-backs.

Joseph Woodward and Izaia Perese start in the centres, while the Tigers go with a back three of Ryan Crowley, Will Wand and James O’Connor.

As for Newcastle, the Red Bulls have Micky Rewcastle, Bryn Gordon and Richard Palframan in the front row, with locks Tim Cardal and Finn Baker in the engine room.

Adam Scott, George Bolam and skipper Reuben Parsons form the back row, with Sam Stuart and Ethan Grayson in the half-backs.

Cameron Hutchison and Rhys Beeckmans start in the centres, while the Red Bulls have Harrison Obatoyinbo, Nathan Greenwood and Elliott Obatoyinbo in the back three

Leicester Tigers vs Newcastle Red Bulls Odds

Leicester are the 1/33 favourites to claim the victory, while Newcastle are the 9/1 underdogs to cause an upset at Welford Road. A draw in the East Midlands on Friday night is currently 22/1.

Leicester Tigers -17 handicap @ 10/11

Beaten 40-22 at rivals Northampton in their last Prem Rugby Cup outing, Leicester will be eager to move on quickly from that defeat at Franklin’s Gardens.

And a home game against a struggling Newcastle side is probably the best possible clash for the Tigers to respond.

Leicester will take plenty of confidence from Newcastle’s last outing in this competition as the Red Bulls suffered a 35-12 defeat on home soil against Saracens.

With O’Connor being moved to full-back, Leicester have some experience coming into the backline in the wide channels, while Whiteley will pull the strings at fly-half.

The Tigers also have plenty of experience in the pack with Wells and Liebenberg in from the off and this could well be a convincing victory for Leicester against a largely youthful Newcastle side who are likely to struggle on their travels once again.

Welford Road is a tough place to go at the best of times for visiting teams and Newcastle to keep this a tight scoreline seems like a stretch. With that in mind Leicester to cover the handicap gets the green light on Friday night.

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