Who holds the aces as the race for the Premiership title hots up?

The biggest compliment you can currently pay Leicester is that they are playing like an international team. Steve Borthwick has worked for long enough at the right hand of Eddie Jones in Japan and England to know the importance of being tough to play against as well as supremely fit. He has also gathered some shrewd tactical lieutenants around him and the uplift in Tigers’ efficiency has been conspicuous.

Even their rivals acknowledge there has been no disputing the best side in the country from September to April. “What they’ve done is go back to their roots,” says the Harlequins’ coach, Tabai Matson. “They are formidable around the set piece – the best in the league – are ferocious defensively and work so hard for each other.

“Underpinning their success is the fact they’re leading the competition in those areas. George Ford is leading them well, the captain [Ellis Genge] is in the engine room and he’s playing well. A lot of things are back that have been their trademarks for decades. They’re clearly well-drilled with Borthers there and they’re setting the standard.”

The only question marks are the normal ones associated with longtime frontrunners: can they find another gear in the closing stages? This weekend’s trip to Harlequins will be instructive: if the champions can be ground down on their own patch Tigers fans will see no reason why they cannot return to Twickenham’s biggest stage and beat anyone in June. Falter at home to Leinster in the European quarters, though, and a little self-doubt could resurface.

It has been a long road back to the play-offs for Saracens, last involved in a Premiership final three years ago. There have been flashes of their old dominant selves but, by their own admission, they have not