Leicester Tigers vs Sale Prediction: Emotional drivers to spur Tigers on

A place in the Premiership Grand Final is the prize awaiting one of Leicester Tigers and Sale Sharks as they prepare to clash at Welford Road on Saturday (15:30, TNT Sports 2) in the second play-off semi-final.

Alex Jack provides his best bets in his Leicester Tigers vs Sale Sharks prediction piece, as well as all the essential team news and match odds for the showdown in the East Midlands.

Team News

Starting with Leicester, the Tigers go with a front row of Nicky Smith, skipper Julian Motoya and Joe Hayes, with a quality lock pairing of Cameron Henderson and Ollie Chessum in behind.

Haro Liebenberg, Tommy Reffell and Olly Cracknell make up the back row, with Jack van Poortvliet and Handre Pollard continuing in the half-backs.

Joseph Woodward and Solomone Kata start in the centres, with Ollie Hassell-Collins, Adam Radwan and Freddie Steward in the back three.

As for Sale, the Sharks have Bevan Rood, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Asher Opoku-Fordjour in the starting front row.

Ernst van Rhyn and Jonny Hill start in the engine room, while brothers Tom and Ben Curry form two thirds of the back row, with Jean-Luc Du Preez at number eight.

Raffi Quirke and George Ford start in the half-backs, while Rekeiti Ma’asi-White and Rob Du Preez go again in the centres.

The Sale backline is complete with Aaron Reed and Tom Roebuck in the centres, while Joe Carpenter starts again at full-back.

Leicester Tigers vs Sale Odds

Leicester Tigers are the favourites to win this semi-final in the 80 minutes at 4/7, while Sale Sharks are 6/5 to secure the victory in regular time.

A draw is available at 18/1, while Leicester are Evs with 2.5 in the first-half handicap market.

Leicester Tigers -5 handicap @ 11/10

It’s set to be an emotional afternoon at Welford Road as a number of big names prepare for their final game in Leicester colours in front of the home fans.

Retiring stalwarts Dan Cole and Ben Youngs have been named on the bench and both legends of the club will be determined to leave the field at Welford Road as victors one last time.

Skipper Montoya has confirmed he too will be leaving the Tigers at the end of the season, as the Argentine is being tipped for a move to the Top 14.

Emotion can be a big motivating force and that combined with home advantage for Leicester means the hosts with the -5 handicap gets the nod in this one.

Leicester beat Sale in a crucial regular season game just less than a month ago at Welford Road, with the Tigers coming out on top 44-34 that day.

Hassell-Collins bagged himself a brace of tries in that high-pressure game and he will be a danger in the wide channels that the Sharks might struggle to deal with.

Having World Cup-winning South Africa fly-half Pollard in their ranks is another key factor for the Tigers, who should have enough to beat a Sale side who have been inconsistent on the road this season.

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