After a rather gentle introduction to English rugby, running up cricket scores against semi-pro sides, Friday’s defeat to Bristol was a brutal introduction to the reality of Premiership Rugby for new Tigers coach Dan McKellar.
A shellshocked Tigers conceded 22 points in the first half, poor kicks that scrum half Joe Powell got away with against Caldy were exposed by Bristol’s top quality back three, and defensive lapses were punished back to back with two rapid scores. Tigers’ forwards will be extremely disappointed with their performance, failing to get much of a nudge on upfront and twice giving away soft penalties for offside following kicks ahead.
No excuse for inexperience
The most concerning aspect for McKellar will be that this was no team of starlings learning a harsh lesson. Led by Mike Brown at 38, six of the starting team was over 30, and no player was under 22. The three babies of the side were Charlie Atkinson who has 60 first team appearances in his career, England international & Rugby World Cup training squad member Dan Kelly (59 apps) and Scottish international Cameron Henderson (40 apps). This was a team that was set up to perform and one that simply should not be making the errors it did.
The only thing worse than picking kids “to blood them” is selecting “experience” for the sake of it. McKellar made a big show of praising the academy over the summer, but actions speak louder than words. This selection appears to have been made prior to the Premiership Cup campaign with performances disregarded. Hopefully form and enthusiasm become more important factors going forward.
Home Comforts
Home form has become extremely important in Premiership Rugby, last season there was only 31 away wins from 110 games, 28% of games won by the away side was the lowest rate in Premiership history. Tigers are not the only team to get travel sickness, there was not a single away win in the opening weekend of the league and Saracens fell to a humiliating 65-10 defeat to Exeter.
A cynic might say that as the quality of the league has declined teams have become worse at winning away, and that weak referees are easily influenced by home crowds.
Shark Attack
That leads us seamlessly to this weekend and the visit of Sale Sharks. The Chesire side won at Welford Road last season and have become something of a bogey team for the Tigers. The side that Sale played on Sunday against Northampton is well matched to Tigers too, with few Rugby World Cup call ups their starting pack is extremely strong and mobile. Cobus Wiese (brother of Leicester’s Jasper) joins the Du Preez twins and new signing Ernst van Rhyn in a South African tinged engine room. Fly half Rob Du Preez, third brother to the flanker twins, was linked with a Springboks call up last season given his form understudying George Ford and he will once again look to pull the strings behind the Sale pack.
Tigers will need their forwards to provide an impetus upfront to create a platform to score tries; cool heads from their half backs to play in the opposition half; and to defend with full concentration to not allow easy entries into our 22 where their pack will make hay.
Festival Atmosphere
Tigers have given this game an Oktoberfest theme (three weekends after the namesake festival finished in Munich), with German beer being served on the hotel plaza pre & post-match as well as currywurst among the other normal food options. Tigers fans should be looking to make a day of it; creating a big atmosphere as we seek revenge for last season’s games before heading into town to catch England’s semi final against South Africa, where Tigers players are bound to feature for both sides.
At the time of writing; England are likely to feature Dan Cole, Ollie Chessum and George Martin in their 23, with Freddie Steward and Ben Youngs possibilities, while South Africa will have Handré Pollard in the 23, and possibly recall Jasper Wiese depending upon selection and the recovery of other players through head injury protocols.
Words by Stuart Keene
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