Ahead of Saturday’s final Guinness Premiership fixture against Saracens, Tigers pair, Tom Croft and Jordan Crane spoke to Soar Magazine about their hopes for the play-offs, the mood within the squad and their determination to bring the trophy back home to Welford Road.

With a top place finish already secured, both Croft and Crane are fully focused on Saturday’s home contest against Saracens, and Tom is desperate to maintain the team’s winning run.

“That key word is momentum. If we play Saracens and lose, not only do you start to look at yourselves and think ‘where are we going wrong’, you also lose momentum. If you keep winning and teams see that you’re winning, the fear will still be there, but if they see that you’ve lost, they’ll start to pick apart your game and see where they can exploit you.

“It’s crucial that we continue to win and obviously a home semi-final in front of the Leicester fans will help us to keep marching on. In the boys’ minds at the moment is Saracens. You play that and then you see who you play in the semis. It literally is one game at a time, you try and win each game and then just see who you get next.”

Jordan, who could make a surprise return to the Tigers first 15 this weekend after injuring his ankle against Newcastle three weeks ago, agrees and believes that a win against one of their potential play-off rivals on Saturday, could strike a huge psychological blow.

“We’ve had that momentum going since the Northampton game we lost and it’s massive for us to keep going, especially against Saracens who are in the mix for the play-offs. If they come here and we put on a good show and put together a good result, it could be a psychological one for them if they make the final.”

Crane is confident that playing the play-off semi-final at Welford Road can be a major advantage for Tigers.

“It’s massive. Our home form all season has been pretty formidable but ever since Christmas we’ve been putting teams away for fun. You’ve got a crowd of 24,000 getting behind you for such a massive game. It’s just better that it’s at Welford Road than anywhere else.”

Both men have continued to impress in a Tigers jersey this season, adding even more consistency and power to their games and fully establishing themselves as first team regulars. International honours with England have followed, with Croft in particularly impressive form during the Six Nations, and the 24-year-old Back Row provided an insight into the mood of the Tigers squad.

“About ten games before the end of the season we said that we wanted to finish top of the Premiership and that’s one goal we’ve achieved, so we can build our confidence from that. But, along with that confidence you have to be wary because if you start thinking you are the best team and that you can’t lose, that’s when another team can come in and undercut you and do a job.

“We’re confident, there’s a great atmosphere at the club at the moment and the majority of the time the sun is out, the boys are enjoying training and things are going well. There aren’t too many things that the coaches need to have a go at us for, but of course we need to keep our feet on the ground and keep doing what we’ve been doing throughout the season.”

Like Croft, Jordan Crane is determined to finish the job off this season and revealed how highly the players rate the achievement of winning back to back Premiership titles.

“It works both ways in the play-off system. I remember two years ago we scrapped into fourth and managed to get into the final when Gloucester won the league by a mile, so you’ve got to keep your head. It’s even harder winning back to back titles than just winning the one. There’s a massive drive in the squad and everybody’s ready to go. It’s definitely achievable and it was our goal at the start of the season to win back to back titles and that’s the sign of a good team.”