Why Prem Cup final is a 113-year 'big event' for Leicester

Leicester Tigers have hoisted trophies aloft at Twickenham, partied on the Parc des Princes pitch in Paris and clinched Europe's biggest prize in Cardiff.

The trophy cabinet at Welford Road is crammed with domestic and international silverware won on their travels.

But on Sunday, they have their first chance in more than a century to win a trophy on home soil.

The Prem Cup final against Exeter Chiefs also offers Geoff Parling the chance to land his first honour as Tigers boss, just 24 games and eight months into his career as a head coach.

As a competition largely played during club rugby's hiatus for the Six Nations, it is a trophy that does not carry the same prestige as the European Champions Cup or the gravitas of a Prem title.

But that will matter little as Tigers try to claim the cup for the first time since 2017 and first time since the competition was rebranded as a Prem Cup in 2018.

"I'm under no illusion to why players play the game and why they want to come to a club like this, it's to play in some big games," Parling told BBC Radio Leicester.

"This is our first home major final at Welford Road for 113 years, so it's a big event for us.

"We have a big chance to go out there and show what we are about."

The last final that Leicester Tigers hosted was the Midlands Counties Cup that they won in 1913.

The Prem Cup that Tigers are closing in on now has been a competition that Parling freely admits he has used in "a variety of ways".

His first competitive matches as Tigers boss came in the competition, and he used the the early rounds as "basically pre-season friendlies" where he could get to better know the players and staff around him.

Different coaching staff has stepped up to lead Tiges throughout the competition as well, while the makeup of squads along the way have been a mixture of emerging talent and experience talent.

Having Wales international and Tigers captain Tommy Reffell and Argentina international Joaquin Moro line up alongside 20-year-old senior academy player Harry Palmer in the back row for their semi-final win against Bath on Sunday exemplified the approach.

Palmer only made his debut for Tigers in September, and in the win against Bath he scored his first senior try for his boyhood club.

"I'm a local boy, always dreams playing for Tigers and scoring at the weekend topped it all off," Palmer told BBC East Midlands Today.

"To be able to play at home and win a final, our first home final for over 100 years, would be unreal."

Parling says the Prem Cup has been a chance to give the "young blokes who aren't the biggest names" their chance to "push on" as emerging professionals at what is English rugby's most successful club.

"It's important that I'm seen and we are seen to back them," Parling said.

"Even in the Prem and the Champions Cup, when guys have had to pull out for whatever reason and others have had to step in, then brilliant let's just back them.

"We have used the Prem Cup similar to most teams, I'd say.

"Some guys [rivals teams] have a deeper, bigger squad and they could probably change everyone, and there have been times where we've had every player available playing; certainly in this block just gone when it clashed with England, the Under-20s, England A and other countries.

"But we are in a good position and we are excited about this home final."