Where Leicester Tigers v Sale Sharks will be won and lost

We look at the key areas which could decide the showdown between the two sides chasing a spot in the Premiership final

1. Attack

Looking at carries, the Tigers only manage 55,8% gainline success where Sale Sharks manage 61%. Sale have made 71,4% of their offloads and 5,4% have lea to tries. Leicester have made 70,7% succesful offloads with 6,4% leading to tries.

2. Defence

Leicester have made 84,6% of their tackles while Sale have made 86,5%. Sale make 69,2% of their tackles above the hips while Leicester made 69,8. 91,6% of the time Leicester exits out of their own 22 while succesfully exits 89,4%.

3. Set-pieces

When it comes to lineouts and scrums, Leicester hits above 90% in both. 90,2% lineout success and 90,1% in scrum. Compared to Sale who have won 91,5% of their lineouts and 85,2% of their scrums. Sale makes 18,1 meters in a match from mauls while Leicester makes 11.1

4.Team movement 

Leicester Tigers goes down the blind side 13,4% and Sale Sharks 14,3%. 32,5% of Sale's passes is short and 63,1 medium while Leicester Tigers throw 31,1% of their passes short and 62,7 medium.

5. Try scoring 

Leicester Tigers score 48,5 % of their tries in the first half and 32% of them coming from 1st phase while Sale Sharks score 54,6% of their tries in the first half and 37% of them comes from first phase.

One can see why both these teams are in the semi-finals. Set-pieces hitting above 80% and scoring a third of their tries off first phase.

Both teams have won 4 out of their last 5 matches while Leicester won the last match between the clubs 44-34 on 9 May 2025.

Our prediction: Leicster Tigers with 5