Former Lions full back Geordan Murphy is calling on his Leicester Tigers forwards to provide the platform for a Guinness Premiership semi-final triumph this weekend.
Murphy will skipper a Tigers side that takes on in-form Bath at Welford Road this Saturday and the 2005 Lion knows the Leicester pack hold the key to success.
Bath arrive in the East Midlands on the back of 11 Premiership wins in their last 12 matches, with their only defeat coming at the Tigers five weeks ago.
Much has been made of Bath’s sparkling attacking abilities but Murphy insists they will not be able to shine if the Leicester pack live up to their own hefty reputation.
"Our game depends on a strong performance by the forwards and we are lucky because we have a very good pack and not only in the starting line-up, we have a very good bench too," Murphy, who won a Lions Test cap in the third rubber against the All Blacks five years ago, told the Leicester Mercury.
"We have some fantastic players in there and players who can really do a job in big games. We need those guys to be firing on all cylinders and tear into the Bath pack.
"They are known for their back line and throwing the ball around but they will struggle to be at their best if they can’t get quality ball.”
The Tigers finished the regular league season as England’s top team and are looking to reach their sixth successive Premiership Final.
But they come into the game on the back of a first home defeat of the season to fellow semi-finalists Saracens last weekend and Murphy knows they will need to improve if they are to keep their chances of retaining their Premiership crown alive.
"It’s an amazing statistic and fantastic to have been in five finals in the past five years. But it is something that we won’t be giving too much thought to until Monday – as long as we are still in the competition," added Murphy.
"The video of our game against Saracens last weekend was a bit of a horror show.
“We gave away 11 penalties and seven of them were very kickable. They kicked six and straight away you are 18 points down against a quality side.
"We gave away a couple of soft tries, too. But it’s done now and all in the past.
"We are looking forward to the weekend. We have had a tasty week of training and it will be a big challenge for us."
