Borthwick singles out five stars of Cup wins

COACH TAKES BACK THE REINS SEE OFF SALE

LEICESTER Tigers head coach Steve Borthwick has namedropped five players during his assessment of the club’s Premiership Cup period.

Having secured eight successive Gallagher Premiership victories to kick-off the 2021/22 season, Borthwick took a back seat for the cup fixtures against Sale Sharks and Wasps.

Assistant coach Brett Deacon stepped up to maintain the momentum with a hard-fought win over Sale Sharks at Mattioli Woods Welford Road before thrashing Wasps 55-7 at the Coventry Building Society Arena.

After sitting out round nine last week on account of it being Tigers’ bye week, Borthwick is back in the hotseat and shared his delight about the Premiership Cup period.

“I think some players did really well through that period,” he said.

“It was a tough game against

Sale. They put out a very good team. Quite a lot of internationals there, especially with players they brought on from the bench.

“We had a team that adapted. James Whitcombe playing in the back row did really well, two players on loan from Nottingham, they did great.

“We had the injury to Bryce [Hegarty] early in the secondhalf, so Dan [Lancaster] came on and led the team so well in that second half.

“I am delighted that a young player showed such great resilience. Such great character.”

Borthwick, right, also praised three other individuals.

He said: “Jack van Poortvliet led the team really well over the two games, Ollie Chessum I thought was tremendous.

“Hosea Saumaki scoring that hat-trick versus Wasps. There’s plenty of people who have done very well.”

The rest week came at an opportune time for Tigers who had Freddie Steward, Ben Youngs and Ellis Genge away with England for the autumn Tests as well as the Springboks duo of Jasper Wiese and Marco van Staden.

Julian Montoya and Matias Moroni were away with Argentina and Matt Scott also made his international return with Scotland.

Reflecting on the period, Borthwick added: “There’s been an opportunity for some players to do some extra training. To sharpen things up.

“There’s been an opportunity for players who have played a lot to recharge a little bit.

“It’s fantastic to see the squad now with the internationals that have been away playing with their national teams come back in.

“It’s been great to have the squad finally back together.”

AFTER TIGERS

AND WASPS