Semi-finals will show us whether style can triumph over substance
Derbies often do not provide champagne play but are certain to be full throttle and entertaining
Whatever the outcome of the Premiership this year, let’s take a moment to acknowledge a unique achievement at Welford Road: Leicester are the first team in Premiership history to lead the table for every round of the competition.
The Tigers might not end up as champions of English rugby, though they have as good a chance as any of the play-off teams, but the transformation wrought by coach Steve Borthwick and captain Ellis Genge has been remarkable and should be saluted.
When a big club such as Leicester get into trouble it is no easy matter to turn it around and you only need to look at the continuing travails of Bath to see this.
Perhaps the most important aspect of Leicester’s game this year has been their ability to win when they have not been playing particularly well. They have been helped by not having as many players on international duty, but the obstinate durability that has served them so well this season is an elusive quality. You cannot just create it, however much talent you have in the dressing room.
In this regard, a player with the psyche of Genge is crucial to galvanise a season-long effort. His natural demeanour of irascible aggression is a throwback to the glory days of Dean Richards and Martin Johnson, and he has been instrumental in dragging out much-needed and much-improved performances from Tigers’ senior players. Several insiders have told me that for several seasons Leicester’s top players had simply been turning up.
Over this campaign players such as Dan Cole, Ben Youngs and George Ford have been at the forefront of most good things Tigers have done.
It is far easier to demand the best from younger players such as Freddie Steward when those with many international caps are leading the way. What will be interesting is how much Tigers will miss Genge when he returns to Bristol next year. Only then can his true contribution be assessed.
The other team with home advantage bring their brand of pragmatism to the play-offs and Saracens are probably joint favourites to lift the title.
Playing on their artificial surface, the advantage is more pronounced as it adds an extra layer of familiarity. The time has gone whereby you can automatically name the Saracens’ starting XV, but the core of Jamie George, Owen Farrell and Maro Itoje is still potent, and nobody can dismiss their claims to end up as winners.
The system-based style that has stood the north London club in such good stead has been modified out of necessity, but the relentlessness of their pressing game is undimmed and there is no better club at holding and defending a lead.
It might seem strange to say that Harlequins have only an outside chance of retaining their crown, but it is not far from the truth. Their laissez-faire style is a joy to watch, but it always offers opponents a way into a game and, at some point, their remarkable ability to fashion improbable comebacks will end. The delicious thing for their fans, which is worrying for any opponent, is that nobody can say for certain when this will happen.
The axis of Alex Dombrandt, Danny Care, Marcus Smith and Andre Esterhuizen is as good, if not better, than that of any of the other play-off teams. On their day they can create and conjure chances from very little and when their offloading game begins to work, they can be irresistible.
They probably would have been better suited to a tie away at Leicester, rather than Saracens. Quins have never played their best on an artificial surface and Sarries are, unlike many other teams, capable of playing the sort of disciplined game that restricts opponents’ chances and defends leads.
Northampton might not relish the short trip up the M1 to Leicester, but it is actually helpful for them to be embroiled in a local derby as a semi-final. Derbies introduce an extra element of randomness; how often have you heard that with derbies form goes out of the window?
Can Courtney Lawes exhort the sort of performance needed from his fellow pack members and will their front row be able to achieve parity in the set-piece?
All of these things need to happen for Saints to provide Dan Biggar with enough ball to get them on the front foot. George Furbank needs to pull his back three into counter-attacks whenever they present themselves and, like Quins, they need to convert into points any they do fashion.
The play-offs have given us East Midlands and London derbies. Often these do not provide champagne play, but they are guaranteed to be full throttle and entertaining.
We will see whether style can triumph over substance.