Pain of Wasps defeat will spur Leicester on says Hamilton
LEICESTER crowd favourite Luke Hamilton predicts his Tigers side will feed off last season’s heartbreaking Premiership semi-final defeat to Wasps as they set out to reclaim their long lost place as English rugby’s foremost team.
A chaotic 2016-17 campaign featuring coaching upheaval and Champions Cup embarrassment almost ended in glory, with Tigers seconds away from the final before Josh Bassett’s last-gasp try sent Wasps to Twickenham instead.
Frustration remains red raw, with former Cardiff Blues and Agen back rower Hamilton telling TRP: “As a group, we’re still bitterly disappointed with the way it ended because we had enough opportunities to beat Wasps.
“Losing that game still rankles and will do so for a very long time, but that just shows the expectation and standards that exist at this club.
“The positive thing is that we’ve shown that when we do play for 80 minutes we can go toe-to-toe with the best sides and are the real deal, so everyone feels we’ve got a massive point to prove and we’ll take that into the new season.”
Hamilton added: “Manu Tuilagi and Matt Toomua should be back in full training this week, while the new signings are really exciting and everyone’s looking forward to playing with George Ford after the summer tour he had with England.
“Matt O’Connor’s fully settled in as head coach now and has left nobody in any doubt that we’re all fighting for our jerseys again, so there’s a really determined atmosphere around the training ground to get Leicester back to the top.”
Pembroke-born Hamilton, 25, made 28 appearances last season – his first at Welford Road after taking a circuitous route from Cardiff via French side Agen.
A former back row colleague of Lions skipper Sam Warburton, Hamilton explained: “It was really difficult leaving the Blues in 2014, but I was in the last year of my contract when the Agen thing came up and had 24 hours to make up my mind.
“I hadn’t been playing much and thought, ‘why not?’ It took a while to get into the French way of thinking, which is very different, but we got promoted in my first season and I played regularly in the Top 14, which was a great experience.
“That led to joining Leicester and I’ve relished every minute. I probably played more last season than I expected but it’s just nice to be out there in front of the crowd at Welford Road and there’s nothing more satisfying than pleasing them.”
Having been capped by Wales at U20 level, Hamilton added: “You’d love to play for your country and it’s great to see what Sam’s done with Wales and the Lions, so I’ll keep doing my best for Leicester and we’ll see if anything happens.”