As a sports fan, we as a rule, tend to love numbers. Numbers can mean anything, and can be applied to an argument to either support or dispute a theory. No wonder the phrase, “lies, damned lies and statistics” exists, as numbers on their own, without context, can mean anything, and can be manipulated. Here are some interesting numbers relating to Leicester Tigers. 8 – the number of league titles won by Geordan Murphy over his glorious Tigers career. 255 – the number of appearances for the club made by Scrum Half Ben Youngs. Here’s another, 31 - this is the number of changes that Head Coach Steve Borthwick has made to his matchday selections over the last 3 weeks. The last number is zero – the number of ****’s he gives about people’s thoughts over those changes.
Many an eyebrow was raised on Friday lunchtime as the team was announced for the European Challenge Cup last 16 game against Connacht on Saturday night. Many a fan and pundit were surprised to see the team sheet and make a note of the names not featured – Genge, Youngs, Liebenberg, Ford etc. I myself, will hold my hands up. Whilst not criticising the selection, as I thought the team announced was good enough to win, I personally felt it was a risk, and one that did not need to be made. Well on Saturday night, a young and inexperienced side put any doubts to bed, as they ran in 7 tries in amongst the 48 points racked up against a very strong Connacht team, who in contrast, had packed their team with experience. What was most impressive, was not just the margin of victory, but the character, heart and desire shown, especially by those young faces, and those players who had had less game time than they would have wanted this season. Pretty much all 23 players featured showed the qualities desired by us as fans, as well as those required by the coaching team, as they came back time and time again, to respond from the heavy pressure thrown at them by the men from Galway. As a result, they have provided Borthwick with the type of headache all coaches wish for, who on earth do you select for the quarter final on Saturday against Newcastle Falcons.
Well whichever team is selected, all fans now know, without doubt, that the team will possess all the fighting qualities and commitment that is the standard that is demanded by Borthwick. What is also not in doubt, is that Tigers are now starting to build not just a team, but a squad that has great depth in nearly all positions. What is more exciting for us as fans, is that when we cast an eye for next season, the position looks even better. Already, we have announced the signings of Freddie Burns, Marco Van Staden, Eli Snyman, Francois Van Wyk for next season with the possibility of more to come. In addition, Nik Dolly and Will Hurd have joined mid-season on multi-year deals, and made their debuts on Saturday night with aplomb. When you look at the great strides that has been made this season, the addition of the new signings as well as all the talented youngsters that are starting to hit their straps, and you are faced with a situation that points to Tigers being genuine top 4 contenders next season.
When you look at the recruitment side, this is an area that Tigers quite frankly, have been bang average at in recent seasons, and which has been a major cause in their decline from league champions to fighting relegation. For me, recruitment to be a success has to hit two criteria – firstly the incoming player has to be better than the incumbents already here, so that they improve the quality of the squad. Or secondly, they are a promising youngster, that can be seen as a project that will only get better over time. These are low cost, low risk, but can be high reward. Certainly, these are the types of signings that Tigers have thrived upon historically. Jordan Crane, Ed Slater and Ellis Genge to think of 3 for example. Too often however, Tigers have signed players that are neither of those two things, and fall in the middle of that criteria. Whilst these type of signings can be useful, Tigers have tended to recruit heavily in this area, meaning the squad slowly becomes stale, doesn’t improve nor does it have a production line of up and coming players coming in. As a result, these player tend to pad the squad out, and make it much harder for an academy graduate to force their way into the starting 15, and have ended up leaving to get game time elsewhere, usually returning to Welford Road to inflict damage on their previous side.
One only has to look at the signings that Tigers have made over the last 12-18 months to see the strategy has changed for the better. Nemani Nadolo, Hanro Liebenberg, Jasper Wiese, Julian Montoya, as well as the likes of Van Staden, Snyman and Van Wyk amongst many many others, are all improvements on the squad, and will add to what is already here. You then factor in the signings of Hurd, Dolly, Cameron Henderson, Ollie Chessum and Guy Porter for example to add to the academy graduates of Freddie Steward, Jack Van Poortvliert, James Whitcombe, Tommy Reffell and George Martin for example, and you can see that both the senior and junior end of the squad is in a lot stronger position. All of this means is that the standard of the squad across the board will improve, and continually get better. This combined with Borthwick’s coaching qualities and selection policies, has meant that players, who may have been considered squad fillers previously, like Johnny McPhillips or Charlie Clare, are now key and valued members of the squad, and are genuine contenders to be in the matchday 23 each week.
So why is this important? Well it should ensure that when next season begins, Borthwick will have near enough 40+ players who are all equally capable of playing in a matchday team, no matter the opposition. All players, who know what the game plan is, have bought into the system and way of playing, and desperate to play every week to show what they can do for Leicester Tigers. This is key, as it will allow Borthwick to rest and rotate his squad, and ensure that any injuries or sore bodies can recover and not have any negative impact on the side. It will mean that if (and more hopefully when) Tigers get into the latter stages of competitions, they will be able to play these bigger games with a fresher, stronger squad and one that can compete on multiple fronts. The strongest Tigers squad I believe I have seen, is the one that was compiled by Pat Howard in his second season in charge – 2006-2007, who were 80 minutes way from winning the treble, a feat that no one else has got near, either before or since. What made this squad so strong, is that Howard also stuck to a strategy of resting and rotating his players, ensuring that all players had a part to play over the course of the season, and any player could be dropped in at any point. For example, 3rd choice Scrum Half Frank Murphy started both Premiership and European Cup finals and acquitted himself well. Too often Tigers have lost big games as their players turn up exhausted as they have been flogged all season. We are now moving away from a 1st choice 15, and a them and us division in the squad, to one that is together and united in their goals, and all capable of being involved.
Whilst Tigers are still on a journey and are constantly improving, the 3 R’s that are guiding their progress – Rest, Rotation and Recruitment should allow them to make their improvements much quicker and ensure that they are competing for honours before we know it. This is a subtle but much important key change, and one that should be paying dividends before we know it.
(The profile picture is taken from the Leicester Tigers twitter account, and all credit should be attributed to them).