NINE titles between them in the first ten years of the Premiership tells the story of the birth of two dynasties.

But while one has remained a bedrock of English rugby the other, Wasps, has fallen by the wayside in recent seasons.

Watching Dai Young picking through the ruins of that toppled empire has been painful viewing for Wasps fans this season, and while he has established foundations upon which to rebuild, it won’t come in time for tomorrow’s trip to Welford Road.

For many years is was a stand-out fixture on the calender – but so drastically have the clubs diverged since Wasps beat Tigers to lift the Premiership trophy in 2008 that anything other than a walloping would be an achievement now.

Young said: “It would be a bonus win for us. There aren’t many tougher places to go than Welford Road and teams that do get a result there have to enjoy it because it doesn’t happen that often.

“But we’re not daunted. We’re looking forward to it. We know how tough it’s going to be and we know we’re going to have to play really well to get the result.

“But there is a little bit of excitement as well. It’s a good place to play rugby, it’s a good atmosphere and it would be a good place to go and turn it round.”

Five league defeats on the spin will take some turning, and Wasps don’t appear to have the ammunition to begin the process tomorrow evening.

They didn’t get many wins there when their team was bursting with internationals – those players have gone, their replacements are mostly injured and it’s almost a case of whoever’s standing plays.

Young said: “Team selection’s pretty easy at the moment, I’ve only got 24 players.

“But we can’t use that as an excuse. Whoever puts the Wasps jersey on has got to go out there and do a job for us.

“It’s maybe not the best place to go and expect to win, but you’ve got to get out there and do the business. We’ve got a month away from the Premiership then and coming back we’ll hopefully be a stronger team with a couple of our players back.”

Wasps actually beat Leicester in September in a vibrant match at Adams Park.

Tigers have welcomed back their England stars now though and the rugby landscape in this country is again shaking to the steady beat of a Tigers team on the march.

Young said: “We know what Leicester are about. They’re obviously going to try to get forward-oriented dominance and we’ve got to make sure that doesn’t happen.

“We’ve got to try and get quick ball and move them around a little bit. That’s easier said than done, but we’ve got to impose our game.”

The match kicks off at 5pm and will be broadcast live on Sky Sports.