Talking points ahead of the Premiership final between Leicester and Saracens

Leicester and Saracens will contest the Gallagher Premiership final at Twickenham on Saturday in a heavyweight collision between two English rugby giants.

Tigers have won the title eight times but their last triumph was nine years ago, while Saracens are chasing a sixth crown after returning to the Premiership this season.

Here, the PA news agency assesses some key talking points heading into the game.

It is 468 days since Saracens were ambushed by the Cornish Pirates in Penzance after being banished to Championship rugby following repeated salary cap breaches that were punished with a £5.36milion fine and relegation from English rugby’s top flight. While Saracens are still despised by many rugby fans for their actions, others feel they have done their time and life goes on. Either way, they kept all their star players, regrouped and will now contest an eighth Premiership final at the culmination of a domestic season when it looked as though Mark McCall’s team had never really been away.

Even the most fanatical Leicester supporter probably needs to blink twice when gauging Tigers’ revival under head coach Steve Borthwick. Leicester finished 11th in the Premiership in 2019 and 2020, winning just 13 of their 44 league games across those two campaigns. Saracens’ relegation spared them making the drop in 2020, but Borthwick has managed an astounding recovery act. This season, they won all their Premiership homes games, went top of the table in September and stayed there for nine months. They are back in the domestic final after nine years away and victory on Saturday would represent an inspiring feelgood story.

With over 3,000 Premiership points and more than 170 England caps between them, fly-halves George Ford and Owen