Saturday's Guinness Premiership final between Gloucester and Leicester is billed in some quarters as the entertainers from the West Country taking on the artisans from the East Midlands.
 Chuter expects Tigers to get physical against Gloucester |
But put the suggestion to Tigers hooker George Chuter, and he gives it short shrift. Gloucester, their back-line stuffed full of exciting young English backs, have been drawing plaudits for their all-court game for the best part of two seasons now.
Leicester, on the other hand, have a reputation as a power-based side who bully people into submission up front, out wide and all quarters in between.
Chuter, a pivotal cog in the Tigers' front row, is not unhappy with that description.
"I'm very proud of the fact people look at this club and say you've got a fantastic set of forwards," he said.
But he does take exception to the notion that is all the Tigers have to offer.
"People see us as a one-dimensional side," the England hooker told BBC Sport.
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"But if you check the stats we've scored more tries than anyone else in the league and we scored more tries in Europe, bar a couple of teams who had Italian teams in their pools."
What is beyond dispute is that Leicester do have power throughout their team, while Gloucester's backs, especially now they are without broken leg victim Mike Tindall, will rely on speed of thought and foot rather than brute force when they meet at Twickenham on Saturday.
 Towering Tuilagi has scored nine tries for Leicester this season |
Leicester's Samoan winger Alesana Tuilagi, all 18 stone of him, has been thundering about with the vim of an enraged rhino all season. The likes of Fijian Seru Rabeni and England hopeful Dan Hipkiss also have plenty of oomph to go with their speed and footwork.
"It's well documented how physical and impressive they all are," said Chuter.
"It's great for a forward getting up from a scrum or a maul and seeing them getting over the gain-line."
Although Chuter bristles at the concept of Leicester retreating to a 10-man game, he believes they played too much "willy-nilly" rugby earlier in the campaign.
"It was a conscious decision around the first month of the season when we realised we were perhaps trying to play too much rugby without doing the basics well," he said.
"We started being a bit more direct. Guys like Tuilagi, Rabeni and Hipkiss are all difficult to bring down and I'm sure they'll fancy themselves one-on-one with the Gloucester side.
"Having said that, Gloucester have some superb players as well. I'm a huge fan of Ryan Lamb and Anthony Allen and Iain Balshaw is always a threat."
It is always nice to hear a grizzled front-rower talking in such glowing terms about backs, especially when they are callow youths like Lamb and Allen, both only 20.
Allen has already made his England bow and Lamb is one of a quartet of hugely promising English fly-halves who have emerged in the past two years alongside Newcastle's Toby Flood, Shane Geraghty (London Irish) and Danny Cipriani (Wasps).
But one thing youth cannot give you is experience, and Chuter believes that is where Leicester may have the edge on Saturday through match-ups such as the solid Andy Goode against the mercurial Lamb.
| If we can win two or even three trophies we can say we've done something really special |
"I think we've got that experience on our side," he said. "Andy Goode has played international rugby, he's played finals, he's won finals, so that's going to help us." Experience is one thing the great Leicester sides that won four titles from 1998 to 2002 and two Heineken Cups on the bounce did not lack.
But time has caught up with England legends Martin Johnson and Neil Back and fellow Tigers stalwarts Darren Garforth, Graham Rowntree and Dorian West, all now retired.
If they do win, it will be, with apologies to the EDF Energy Cup, the first major trophy for the "new" Leicester, who are eyeing an unprecedented treble this season, with a Heineken Cup final also on the agenda.
"There's only a few guys left from the side which won four titles and two European Cups - "Cozza" (Martin Corry), "Goodey" (Andy Goode), "Geordey" (Geordan Murphy), Lewis (Moody)," Chuter added.
"It is a new age and it's something we've been on the verge of for the past two years.
"We've been to back-to-back finals, we've been to Heineken Cup semi-finals, we've been there or thereabouts and threatening to make the final step.
"Now we've got one cup under our belts we're almost there. If we can win two or even three we can say we've done something really special."
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