Leicester have the class to rule again

LEICESTER are not where their fans want them to be – and a minority have been warned by the club about the level of social media abuse directed at players and coaches after their home Premiership defeat by Bristol two weeks ago.

However, while I can understand Tigers supporters being unhappy at being in eighth place in the Premiership, because it doesn’t look great, it’s about six times better than the disappointment suffered by Bath fans in recent years. What Leicester fans are going through is nothing by comparison!

Results in the league have not been great for Leicester either before or after Steve Borthwick’s shortlived stint as coach leading to them winning the Premiership title in 2022. That achievement raised expectations massively. However, what it did not take into account is the size of the upheaval that followed, with the entire coaching team of Borthwick, Richard Wigglesworth, Kevin Sinfield and Aled Walters transplanted to Twickenham after signing England contracts.

Add to that the departures of captain Ellis Genge to Bristol, fly-half linchpin George Ford to Sale, Premiership final drop-goal super-sub Freddie Burns heading for Japan, and Jack van Poortvliet suffering a long-term injury, and there was always a chance that the progress might grind to a halt.

Set against that, with international players like Springbok world champion fly-half Handre Pollard and No.8 Jasper Wiese, Argentina captain and hooker Julian Montoya, England’s George Martin, Ollie Chessum, Freddie Steward, and Van Poortvliet, as well as Wales flanker Tommy Reffell, there’s enough quality for Leicester fans to be thinking that they should be up there contending for the title again.

The only problem with that simple explanation is that it excludes the time it takes for players and coaches moving into a new environment to bed in. Added to that, the new man in charge, Australian coach Dan McKellar arrived from a completely different rugby union culture, and inherited a squad of the players he did not know a great deal about.