Leicester Tigers Head Coach Steve Borthwick praised the “first class attitude” of his squad, as he builds towards the weekend clash away at Bristol Bears.
Borthwick, sitting in his weekly press conference, was asked about the different challenges that he and his side had faced so far in this season. The latest being integrating the number of international players he possesses, back into the club routine, as they return from representing their various countries. Tigers have been more affected than others with International call ups, however Borthwick was pleased in how they had managed to cope.
“What I would say, in every one of the challenges, and there's been a lot of challenges at Leicester Tigers over the last two years, and how many months. And in every single one of those challenges, the players have just been incredible in the way that the attitude they have had towards every one of them, they've just been 1st class”.
Saturday’s fixture sees the return of Leicester’s England players, Ben Youngs, Freddie Steward and jack Van Poortvliert. On his returning stars, Borthwick advised “they're just desperate to get back and work for them and play. These guys love playing rugby, so they want to be on the field”.
Leicester go into the tricky away fixture off the back of a nervy victory over London Irish last Sunday at Mattioli Woods Welford Road. Leicester had roared into a 26-7 lead, with a bonus point sealed within the first half an hour. However the visitors came back into the game, and drew level with the Champions, and made them sweat even with an additional try from returning South African Jasper Wiese.
Borthwick was happy with how his side had assembled that lead, however the manner in which Irish had fought their way back into the game, gave him something to ponder. “The way we built up such a substantial lead, that's a real positive. So there is plenty to take from that. But ultimately, we gave London Irish a lot of opportunities, particularly opportunities around the penalties, that we shouldn't concede.”
In addition, the Leicester Head Coach was asked about the improvement in his side’s conversion of chances from close range, an area of the game that had been flagged as being a contributing factor to their defeat to Bath earlier this month. Borthwick admitted their ability from close range at The Rec was “pretty awful”, however against Irish, he felt this was a “better step forward from where we were.”
Saturday’s clash at Ashton Gate means a reunion for Tigers against their former player and captain Ellis Genge who left in the summer to rejoin the Bears. Borthwick described Genge as being “a very famous part of this club.” Adding, “I think that we at Leicester Tigers have an incredible respect for Ellis Genge, every one of us does. And I think, in fact, I know Ellis Genge has enormous respect for us here at Leicester Tigers also.”
The Leicester Head Coach was full of praise for his opponents, as he assessed who his side would be up against. Borthwick described them as being a “very, very good side,” stating, “The side packed full of talent, they got pace in their back line, they got power in the forward pack.” He then went on to add “when you look at the squad that's been built down there, you see, you see a world class talent.”
Leicester take on Bristol Bears, in an unusual kick-off slot of 8pm on Saturday night. Borthwick was unfazed by this, acknowledging that this is just the latest challenge thrown his side’s way this season. “It does mean the travel and then the travel on the day. That's just what you got to do.”