Tuilagi up for Bastareaud rematch

Leicester centre Manu Tuilagi is relishing the prospect of facing Mathieu Bastareaud in Sunday's Heineken Cup quarter-final in Toulon.

Leicester centre Manu Tuilagi is relishing the prospect of facing Mathieu Bastareaud in Sunday's Heineken Cup quarter-final against Toulon.

The England midfielder's clash with his French opposite number was a highlight of the Six Nations and in-form Tuilagi is eager for a rematch at Stade Félix Mayol.

“I am looking forward to playing against him again,” said Tuilagi after last weekend's record Premiership victory over Northampton, in which he scored two tries.

“I played against him in the Six Nations. He is a quality player and it was a tough test and I am looking forward to another tough one.

“For now we will enjoy this win and come back on Monday and have a look. It is more about us focusing on ourselves and what we need to do. We need to take this momentum and take it to Toulon right from the start like we did against Northampton.

“This was a massive help for us, just to keep that momentum going. But we have got to continue to work hard and turn it up a bit more in training for going to Toulon. They are a huge club and a great team. The first 20 minutes are going to be really important.”

Tigers' director of rugby Richard Cockerill is not intimidated by Toulon's squad of “rock stars.”

“Toulon can only put 15 blokes in the field and we will do the same and go and play,” said Cockerill.

“I suppose everybody will expect us to get beat so that's cool. We will go there and see what we can do.”