Leicester Tigers’ season has now come to an end, after an agonising defeat away at Sale Sharks in the Play-Off semi-final. We now know which coaches are leaving in the summer to join Steve Borthwick in his England adventure, and we now know which players are leaving for pastures new. As a result, this is an opportunity to look back at the year that was and learn what lessons Leicester can use for next season.
Looking back – the positives
When reviewing this season, let’s start with the positives. Tigers finished third in the league, cementing their position in the top four and made it to the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup. Objectively, that makes it a good season. Winning trophies like the previous year is an easy way of measuring success, because it is tangible and you can see it. However success comes in other forms, and finishing in the position Leicester did and making it as far as they did in the Champions Cup is still a successful season, albeit not as successful as maybe hoped back in September.
Not only did Leicester consolidate their position as a top four side, they also consolidated their position as one of the best breeding grounds for young, talented players. George Martin & Cam Henderson went from being players of promise at the start to fully-fledged starters, who became un-droppable as the season progressed. Dan Kelly looked every bit an England International in waiting whilst the likes of Tommy Reffell, Ollie Chessum (before his unfortunate injury) and Freddie Steward cemented themselves as International regulars, with Jack Van Poortvliert not far behind. In addition, the likes of Guy Porter and Joe Heyes were on the cusp of England selection showing again their continued progress.
People may wonder why the above is a success but only judging your year by winning trophies or not can lend itself to the short-term thinking that led Leicester to falling apart so spectacularly. Success needs to be viewed through a short, medium and long-term prism, so that you can stay on the right track and keep making progress. By returning to their previous model of combining intelligent short and long-term strategies, Leicester can look to do well both now and in the future. By being a place that is seen as a breeding ground for young talent, it allows Leicester to sign players like Charlie Atkinson when they become available, as they wish to join a high-performance environment.
Disruption Galore
How the season can be made a success is due to the context of how it panned out. This year for Tigers, if it were to be categorised, would be under “disruptive.” Ever since Leicester won the league, they have been thrown so many challenges for the squad to deal with. Making the final meant their (already shortened) pre-season was reduced by two weeks compared to sides not in last year’s play-offs. Losing Ellis Genge and George Ford ripped the main leadership heart out of the side instantly. Their heavy England contingent meant they had to contend with them not being present for the majority of pre-season and unavailable for the first few weeks of the season. Injuries to key new signings Anthony Watson and Handre Pollard meant they were unavailable for large chunks of the season. The sad demise of Worcester and Wasps, combined with the designated bye-week ensured Leicester went a whole month without Premiership rugby, even if a hastily arranged friendly with an Italian Select XV helped dull the impact.
All this came before the largest disruption of all, when the RFU sacked Eddie Jones and came calling to Leicester for Steve Borthwick first, and then Kevin Sinfield in addition. The speculation, the distraction then ultimately the loss surrounding those key figures would have been a huge obstacle to any team; quite naturally this affected Leicester. How could it not? Losing your Head Coach and in effect his deputy mid-season is a hammer-blow and unprecedented in English rugby. The uncertainty and the confusion caused by the departure of the brains trust that had guided Leicester to their first Premiership title in 9 years, would have been enough for this young squad to lose their heads and let the season slip away.
And yet they did not allow that to happen. The squad had a dip as rookie Richard Wigglesworth took the reigns and learned how to be a Head Coach on the job, understandably so. But once Tigers had lost at home to Northampton Saints and some harsh truths were clearly said behind the scenes, the team came roaring back to life. Victory after victory after victory followed, as Leicester finally rediscovered their snarl, charging back up the league in the process. A side that in the middle of February had been given an 8% chance of making the top 4, succeeded in that quest with a game to spare.
As Ugo Monye said on commentary after the semi-final had finished – only Leicester could do that. Only Tigers could find the character, the heart and the inner grit to turn around a situation that would have finished any other club’s season. Only Leicester could look disaster in the eye and dismiss it as irrelevance. In doing so we learned so much about this group. Supporters learned that whilst the squad may be full of young players learning their trade, they are also full of heart, hunger and desire to take this club forward, no matter what is thrown at them. That bodes well for future years, when they are in the trenches, metaphorically, on the pitch and under the pump. This is a side that faced adversity, winked at it, and carried on regardless. Those are qualities that cannot be taught, you either have it or you don’t and Leicester have it in spades.
Season’s Negatives
Given everything thrown at Leicester, to have the season they did provides a successful return for their year. It is this context provided by the number of disruptions that help provide a positive review of the season, because in many places there are negatives and lessons for the group to learn from to improve upon for next season.
Their home record that saw them go the previous season unbeaten at Welford Road in the league, is in need of being rebuilt as Tigers lost three times at home on domestic duties with Ospreys leaving with a win in the Champions Cup. In both competitions, margins are tight and home victories are imperative for any success. Losing three times at home was probably the difference between finishing in the top two places or not. Losing to Ospreys, albeit by a controversial TMO decision, ensured Leicester had to travel to Dublin for their Champions Cup Quarter-Final and not Sandy Park to play Exeter. Whilst playing Chiefs in their own back yard is no simple task, it is very much more winnable than Leinster at the Aviva. Making Welford Road a fortress again is the first task for future success next season.
Leicester were also guilty of letting points slip on the road, again costing them a top two finish in the process. Up to eight points were thrown away from winning positions on the road to Exeter, Bath and Bristol, two of which were lost in the last seconds. All three games should have been won by Tigers. All three saw the side make poor decisions, sloppy errors and put themselves under needless and avoidable pressure in the process. Whilst Tigers tidied this up in the second half of the season to great effect, you never felt they had truly got rid of the self-destruct button as they did flirt with it throughout. Ensuring they are ruthless in picking up points on their travels will again take Leicester back to a top two finish.
Questions of Style
Tigers also faced challenges in their playing style as they tried to replicate the highs of the previous season. One of those challenges was how good Leicester were last year – they truly were top of the table in so many facets of the game, it would have been some achievement to repeat that. The main area where Tigers dropped back was in defence. In the normal league season, this year they conceded 3.3 tries per game compared to the miserly 2.16 in the year before. Points conceded went up from 18.83 in the title winning year to 24.5, twelve months later. Matt Everard tightened the ship in the second half of the season, but Leicester will need to be much less profligate next year to improve their fortunes.
The attack saw little statistical movement with tries scored this season being 3.65 per game compared to 3.66 last season, with points scored being 28 per game this year compared to 30.25 this season. The attack however remained workmanlike and in some games, fairly stodgy and not testing opposition defences enough. A hope at the start of the season was that Leicester would look to move their game on and look to show variety in the attack, however this sadly was not the case which is a shame given the talent they possess in the backline.
In addition, Tigers were too guilty of trying to replicate their 21-22 playbook rather than adapting and adding to their game. As a result, Leicester became too predictable in places and were worked out by opposition teams. A hope for next season is that under new coaches, Tigers finally learn some new tricks and show some variety in their game plan to hurt teams.
Overall Leicester can walk away from this season proud of their efforts and pleased with their season’s work, albeit disappointed in how it finished. They cemented their position as a top four team, and showed that they possess character and fight to trouble all teams. There are several areas for improvement, however with such a young squad, the ceiling is high with plenty of potential. The future ahead looks exciting for Leicester under a new incoming management team!