My first proper blog post was going to be looking forward to the upcoming East Midlands Derby, with Leicester Tigers making the short journey down the road to nearest rivals Northampton Saints. However, the recent Covid-19 outbreak at Saints, has ensured the fixture the latest to undergo a cancellation, to the disappointment of fans and players alike. As a result, a new subject had to be sourced. So as we start 2021, I thought I would look back at the first 6 months in charge of Leicester Tigers of Head Coach Steve Borthwick and provide an assessment of how he has got on.
What can be in no doubt, is that those 6 months have not exactly been quiet or boring, with Borthwick having to face numerous challenges in that time. It has also provided him with the brutal reality of the job he has taken on and the size of the project ahead. However there have been numerous signs of improvement that can be cited, as well as those areas that still require attention. Let's be frank, the team he took over had hit the bottom, having been 11th when he began on July 1st, following on from the previous season's 11th placed finish. A team that was low on confidence, belief and seemingly a game plan.
Ideally, Borthwick would have walked into a job where a 10-11 week pre-season programme was laid out in front of him to get the team fit and with attack, defence and overall game plans all settled in. As we all know this was not the case, with only 4 weeks before his first game, with an unfinished squad,that had seen fan favourites Manu Tuilagi and Telusa Veainu leave the club. As a result, this has not been a traditional nor ideal first 6 months in charge, and as a result, I feel that the results and improvements should be seen through this context.
So with the project being a work in progress in mind, what have been the positives? Firstly the team's fitness. 12 times in the 2 years prior to Borthwick joining, had Tigers led going into the last 20 minutes only to eventually go on to lose the game. The signing of Aled Walters as Head of Physical Performance has been inspired and one that has lived up to the billing when it was announced he was coming. Tigers now are capable of going at opposition teams 100% for 80 minutes, with the last 20 minutes being the period of the game where Tigers are sensing opportunities. Aided by the finishers from the bench, the wins against Gloucester, Brive and Bath this season were all secured with the help of a big push in the last 20 minutes.
This improvement in the players' fitness has also seen a change in the physicality and commitment of the players. Not for nothing did the departed Sale DoR Steve Diamond comment on the fact Tigers compete and challenge for everything. Even in defeats at the end of last season (Wasps & Bristol aside), Tigers were working hard in the 80th minute, marking a distinct change from previous seasons. Desire and commitment were certainly a feature of the win in Bayonne, with Tigers having 3 men in the sin-bin over the course of the 80 minutes putting additional pressure on the team and defence.
Next up is defence. Tigers have been like a leaking bucket over the last 2 seasons, regularly suffering bonus point losses with 79 tries conceded in total over the course of the 2019-20 Premiership season. With the move of Mike Ford to a more natural role of defence coach, the team have made a marked improvement, with 11 tries conceded from the 4 Premiership games currently played so far, including 5 in a blot on their copy book against champions Exeter in Round 3. Whilst the numbers are better, they are still not perfect, however improvements can be seen in the games themselves. Organisation is much better and the physicality of the hits made are incredibly high, with George Furbank's ribs still recovering from the monster hit he received courtesy of Nemani Ndolo. Overall, whilst there are further improvements to be made, defence certainly is on the right path back to where it should be.
One of the main causes of Tigers' decline over the last 7 years has been due to the forward pack no longer hitting the heights or the standards of Leicester teams previously. This however has now been rectified with the Leicester forwards now living up to the Tigers' traditions. New signing Jasper Wiese has added huge carrying ability since arriving from South Africa, with the number 8 recording carrying stats of 115m in the last game against Bath, but this has been complimented by his team mates. Fellow South African Hanro Liebenberg has been Mr Consistent since Borthwick arrived, with Tigers stalwarts Tom Youngs and Dan Cole having a renaissance in their performances. With the likes of Tomas Lavanini, Cyle Brink and Jordan Taufua all finding their feet after injury, and Ellis Genge, when not on England duty being involved, it all points towards a pack that will have a pretty serious reputation across the league.
Despite the improvements noted above, there still areas of Tigers' game that are still behind and needing work to bring up to speed. Firstly is the attack. As expected this has not been a main area of focus, with Borthwick looking to address other concerns, of which most have been touched upon previously. Added to which, the surprise departure of Attack Coach Rob Taylor has meant that the attack, whilst not been forgotten about, has suffered from the lack of focus. As a result, numerous Tigers' games have featured a heavy focus on kicking and aerial bombardment, with only 8 tries scored in the 4 Premiership games actually played so far. This has caused large amounts of frustration given the backline talent possessed, and especially given when Tigers have actually played with ball in hand, there have been some nice moments and quality interplay. The tries scored in the Brive game in the last quarter gave a glimpse of what the team can produce given the opportunity to play ball in hand. Given the cancellation of the game against Saints, and potential cancellations of the remaining European Challenge Cup fixtures, this is a great window of opportunity for the team to start working on imbedding attacking shape and structure.
Tigers' games over the last 2 years have been blighted by a large error count, especially silly and unforced errors. Whilst this has improved over the last 6 months, helped by the increased fitness regime, Tigers can still become hamstrung by sloppy mistakes, creating a staccato feel to games and their performance. This, combined with a large at times penalty count, has meant that Tigers have struggled to create a foothold in games and undermined the good work that has gone on previously. Certainly, the multiple missed kicks at touch from penalties in the London Irish game contributed towards the loss that day or at the very least, the lack of a bonus point.
Whilst the increased fitness work can be seen, and as mentioned had an impact on the last 20 minutes of games, it has been the first quarter that has at times let Tigers down. The Brive and Bath games both saw Tigers trail inside the opening 20 minutes due to slow starts made. The Bath game especially meant that the team had to come back from a 14 point deficit before ultimately going on to win the game. Whilst the team won both games, this is not a feature that Bowthwick will want or find to be an acceptable part of the Tigers revolution. As a result, either messaging or warm up routines need to be looked at to see if there is something that is creating the slow starts.
Overall, progress under Borthwick has been good, with the team now looking miles better than what it looked like on day 1 of new regime. Whilst improvements in areas have been slow, and more still to be worked on, there is still much to be happy about from a fans' perspective. Given the context of what has happened since Borthwick joining the club and other external factors, both the fans and the club have much to feel positive about as we embark on 2021.
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