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Leicester Tigers and Northampton Saints have met on 245 previous occasions, making this one of the oldest rivalries in rugby.

This stadium has hosted 122 of those encounters where the Tigers' record is won 85, lost 24, drawn 13. The overall score stands at 137 wins by Tigers to 89 by Saints, with 19 games drawn.

Looking back through the pages of the Tigers History Book, the very first meeting was in November 1880 - in only the third game played by Leicester after the club’s formation - and produced a 0-0 draw. It was the second stalemate in the club’s first three games, following the draw in the opening game against Moseley just two weeks earlier.

In a different age, with a different formation, the 15man line-up had only been standardised five years earlier and there were numerous changes of formation in the opening decade of the club’s existence, with nine forwards, two half-backs, two three-quarters and two full-backs the norm during 1880-81.

By the following season, teams moved one of the full-backs into the three-quarters before eventually finding the 8-7 balance between forwards and backs that we know today.

The Leicester line-up for that first historic derby meeting:

FORWARDS:

Alexander Brice – Played as a halfback in the club’s first-ever fixture and returned as one of the nine forwards against Northampton while captaining the team for the first time. John Gilbert – Played in the historic opener against Moseley and returned to face Northampton. Newman Haddon – Made the first of his five club appearances in this fixture. Hedley Salmon – The second of 89 games for the club in its formative years. Fred Sheen – Faced Moseley and Northampton among nine appearances for the club. William Sheffield – The first of 98 appearances for a future club captain.

The first of 245 derby meetings with Northampton was back in November 1880

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SOME OF THE FACTS AND FIGURES BEHIND THE HEADLINES...

James Symington – Debut for the vice-captain who went on to play 49 times for the club. Arthur Turner – Made 25 appearances, spread over the club’s first decade. Arthur Whitehead – First of 33 games for the club.

HALF-BACKS:

Charles Duckering – First of his three appearances in his only season with Leicester. Lawrence Young – A future captain, he was the only player involved in each of the club’s opening three fixtures, against Moseley, Leicester Victoria and then Northampton, and played more than 30 times in five seasons.

THREE-QUARTERS:

John Lakin – First of 27 games for the club, during which he scored six tries. George Walker – Made four more appearances after this debut game.

FULL-BACKS:

Herbert Foster – The second of 50 games for the club. Sherrard Coleman – A future captain, he also played in the club’s first-ever fixture and is the only man in the derby line-up to eventually top 100 games.