I’m looking forward to getting my whole squad together
BORTHWICK EXCITED AT NUMBER OF PLAYERS TO COME INTO CONTENTION
LEICESTER Tigers head coach Steve Borthwick has admitted he is looking forward to finally getting together his whole squad in the coming weeks.
No club in the Gallagher Premiership has experienced a bigger turnover in players across the calendar year with contract disputes playing a part during the break in the summer that saw the likes of Manu Tuilagi, Telusa Veainu and Greg Bateman leave Welford Road.
This compounded the exits of the likes of Jonny May, Sione Kalamafoni, Guy Thompson and Will Spencer for other reasons as an overhauled Tigers squad restarted the 2019/20 season in August.
Borthwick, right, who officially started work with Tigers on July 1, has also put his stamp on the squad as he seeks to turn around the fortunes of the 10-time champions of England.
The new season is two rounds old and a third match awaits against Premiership and European champions Exeter Chiefs tomorrow at Welford Road. But Borthwick, who is in sole command following the departure of director of rugby Geordan Murphy last month, is still waiting for some of his new signings to begin training.
“I am just looking forward to getting my squad together, which I haven’t had yet.” said
Borthwick, when asked if he was still looking to recruit players for the 2020/21 season. I am looking forward to Luan de Bruin joining, I am looking forward to Matias Moroni joining us. They haven’t been with us yet.”
The South African tighthead and Argentinian back will add significant strength to the Tigers squad, which has kicked off the current campaign with a win over Gloucester and a defeat at London Irish.
This weekend also marks the conclusion of the Autumn Nations Cup with England aiming to back up their Six Nations title success by claiming another piece of silverware in Sunday’s final against France. There will also be Tigers interest in the Georgia versus Fiji Test at Murrayfield tomorrow.
“When the internationals have finished their international duties, then we will have Shalva (Mamukashvili) back, Nemani (Nadolo) back, Kini (Murimurivalu) back, Elis (Genge) back, George (Ford) back, Ben (Youngs) back.
“I am sure I’ve missed somebody, I am looking forward to us getting our players back, getting our squad together.
“When you start looking at that number, I lost count of how many players I talked about then, you are talking about a number of players that will come in and strengthen our first team.
“That is exciting. Right now, we’ve got the exciting challenge of Exeter Chiefs on Saturday at our home ground.”