DERBY DAYS - ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE FINAL:Leicester Tigers v London Wasps. The ferocious and perenniel duel for supremacy between England's rugby giants virtually guarantees next Saturday's final wil be a treat for fans, writes Damien Cullen.
SORRY IF you thought Munster's great win last weekend had signalled the end of club rugby for another season. There are at least two huge clashes still to be served.
One is in the Southern Hemisphere: Australia's New South Wales Waratahs meet New Zealand's Canterbury Crusaders in the Super 14 final in Christchurch on Saturday (wouldn't the winner meeting Munster in a world club decider be incredible?).
The other is closer to home: the two giants of the modern game in England meet, also on Saturday. In front of a capacity crowd at Twickenham, Leicester Tigers and London Wasps will determine who is the 2008 king of the English club game.
Any time these two rivals meet on the field of play a bruising, no-holds-barred contest is guaranteed. When there is a title up for grabs, the ante is raised.
Before last weekend, Wasps were the reigning Heineken Cup champions - they have, like Leicester, held the European title twice, and they have won the English Premier League five times, including a three-in-a-row from 2003 to 2005.
Before that 2003 success, Leicester had finished top of the Premier League table five seasons in a row, and the Tigers were back on track last season and are the reigning champions.
So the two have between them claimed eight of the last 11 league crowns - and Leicester also finished top of the table in 2002, though Gloucester went on to emerge victorious in the play-offs.
The domination has fed the rivalry between the clubs and each clash guarantees a full house - even at the 82,000-capacity home of English rugby.
Mind you, while their meetings in domestic competition have always been bruising affairs, they have saved some of their truly classic encounters for Europe's premier competition.
In the 2004-2005 Heineken Cup, Tigers and Wasps found themselves in the same pool, and the result was two ferocious clashes in the space of one week.
By the time the teams faced each other in the first of those two epics, on December 5th, 2004, Biarritz were already looking a good bet to top the group - which meant either the Tigers or the Wasps would not make the quarter-finals.
Leicester started the game at the Causeway Stadium determined it would not be them to lose out - storming 22-6 ahead within 20 minutes, Geordan Murphy, Lewis Moody and Martin Corry all scoring tries.
The reigning champions of Europe, however, staged an incredible comeback - led by Josh Lewsey, who scored a try - and with five minutes remaining the teams were deadlocked - 31-31.
Andy Goode kicked a penalty and a drop-goal to give the Tigers the edge again, and the final minutes saw Wasps relentlessly pound the Leicester defence in a vain effort to steal victory.
Repeat meetings rarely live up to the standards of an opening-day thriller, but the following week's match at Welford Road was another great game.
The London side were on the ropes - a victory over their fierce rivals was necessary to maintain their interest in that edition of the Heineken Cup.
Leicester, however, managed to repeat the previous week's whirlwind start and by the 20th minute were already 19-0 up.
Another two tries by the home side before half-time looked to have killed the game, but Wasps came out firing in the second period, and tries by Joe Worsley and Will Green brought the deficit back to within a single score.
Wasps, however, were having to work too hard for their scores and, in the end, the home side prevailed 35-27. The reigning champions were out of Europe.
They would have their revenge.
Last season, the two met in the European Cup final. Leicester were on the trail of an unprecedented treble, having already wrapped up the Premier League title and Anglo Welsh Cup.
In front of a record 81,076 spectators at Twickenham - the scene of so many battles between the English warriors - a Frenchman, Raphaël Ibañez, and an Irishman, Eoin Reddan, claimed the tries that lifted the Wasps to an empathetic 25-9 victory.
Three years ago Wasps spoiled the farewell party for Neil Back and Martin Johnson by claiming their third Premier League title in a row with a 39-14 demolition of the Tigers in Twickenham.
"I'm acutely aware that no one can write scripts for you in sport," said Johnson, the Wasps captain, immediately after the defeat.
This Saturday another giant of English rugby will play his final game for his club, Lawrence Dallaglio lining out for the last time with his beloved Wasps.
"It was my ambition at the start of the season to end with another trophy," he said this week.
Ten days ago Leicester defeated Gloucester at Kingsholm to become the first team to win an English Premier League semi-final away from home. And Wasps have performed equally impressively in this season's competition, winning 12 of their final 14 league ties to move from the bottom half of the table up to second, before beating Bath in their semi-final.
At the start of the year European glory was the number-one target for both clubs.
For the past few months, however, the priority has shifted to the English top-flight title. It makes Saturday's game a must-win for both teams. And when two rivals meet in must-win games, the biggest winners are, more often than not, the spectators.
Date: Saturday, 3pm
Venue:Twickenham
On TV:Sky Sports 1, 2.30pm
