"IT WAS LIKE NOTHING ELSE.": CHILDHOOD TIGERS FAN LEAH BARTLETT HAILS CLUB'S FIRST PWR WIN

Leah Bartlett was just five years old when she got her first Leicester Tigers season ticket.

Fast-forward 20 years and the Scotland loosehead dived over for a try on Sunday that sealed Tigers Women’s first-ever win in Allianz Premiership Women’s Rugby.

After seven consecutive losses this season, Bartlett’s 77th-minute launch over the whitewash against Sale Sharks helped clinch a dramatic last gasp 22-19 victory at Chester RFC.

“It was like nothing else,” she said. “We’ve been working so hard for it and for all of the hours of training and what we’ve been putting in behind the scenes to finally come to fruition was incredible.

“There’s no better team to have done it with.

“It’s not just the 23 that were there on the weekend. There’s a squad of 40 and without everyone putting in the work that they have been it just wouldn’t have been possible.”

The winning try 😍 pic.twitter.com/LX172jMPAq

— Leicester Tigers Women's (@TigersWomens) January 22, 2024

Despite the heart-breaking string of losses, Vicky Macqueen’s side had absolute belief in their ability to secure their first win over the weekend, and so did their supporters. 

“I don’t think anyone felt like we weren’t going to win that game,” the 25-year-old explained. “It always felt like a non-negotiable. 

“It’s a case of building week on week and I think we have been. 

“Our performances recently have really shown we are starting to gel more and each week we look more together as a team.

“Speaking to some supporters at the weekend, even they said, ‘we could feel it was coming’."

And as a lifelong Leicester Tigers fan Bartlett knows more than anyone how much the club has got behind their new team. 

Bartlett has been visiting Mattioli Woods Welford Road for as long as she can remember and just pulling on a Tigers shirt fulfilled a childhood dream. 

“[Scoring the winning try] was pretty incredible,” she said. “Tigers is well known for its family feel. 

“We’re an old club. I think once you’re in as a Tigers supporter you never leave. You always stay there.

“You can definitely see that a lot of diehard Tigers fans have jumped on the bandwagon of us having a women’s team as well.  

“It had been a big question for the last god knows how many years, ‘why isn’t there a women’s team?’ 

“It’s class that now we have that opportunity for young Tigers supporters, especially young girls to see that it is possible to play for Tigers. 

“When I got the opportunity, it was a no-brainer really, something I couldn’t turn down and I wouldn’t have it any other way. 

“It is a dream come true. I’ll even speak to my parents now and they’ll remind me that when I was younger when someone would say to me ‘what do you want to do when you’re older?’ I always answered I want to play for Tigers.  

“Being able to pull on that shirt every week is something I’ll never take for granted. It won’t get old for me.” 

POV: You’ve just won your first ever Allianz @ThePWR match 🥳 pic.twitter.com/j5hJLCs94F

— Leicester Tigers Women's (@TigersWomens) January 22, 2024

While Bartlett’s love for the club runs deep, the women’s team are keen carve their own unique Tigers legacy and with the momentum from this win, fire a warning shot to let other sides know they are dangerous competition. 

“We want to create our own identity,” she said. “We don’t just want to be in the shadow of the men’s team and we’re starting to get there.  

“We’ve shown that we can play some really exciting brands of rugby, a lot of running rugby, jouez, which is something that wouldn’t necessarily have been expected from us.  

“We’ve shown we’re here in this league, we can compete in this league and it’s a case of pushing on now and getting more wins under our belt. 

“We knew coming into this that we were going to be the underdogs. That’s the nature of the beast, of coming into a Premiership competition where the majority of teams have got a plethora of years of experience. 

“But we also wanted to cause a bit of upset. We’ve known from the start that it’s not going to be the easiest season in terms of results.  

“Results aren’t just going to come out of nowhere. We need to be a team that knows how to win and we’re becoming that.  

“Now it’s just about taking that forward and providing exciting games of rugby for fans to watch, for us to play, to inspire more people to play and for the Tigers brand to show that we are competitive within this league. 

“Hopefully moving forward we can cause upsets against the big name teams.”