GUNS YOUNG
As a Leicester season ticket holder in his youth, George Worth revelled in his side’s domination of English rugby by travelling to Twickenham to watch his heroes claim four Premiership titles between 2007 and 2013. Now, he is desperate to help them recapture those glory days.
Leicester’s academy output has stagnated since the golden generation of Tom Croft, Matt Smith, Dan Cole, the Youngs brothers, Ben and Tom, and Manu Tuilagi arrived on the scene with a bang. Full-back Worth is one on whom hopes are being pinned to reverse that decline.
Worth, 21, who has a smattering of first team appearances, says: “I’m from south Lincolnshire originally and used to play for Spalding RFC, so Tigers were our nearest professional team and I’d come down here with my younger brother, sister and mum and dad.
“I was a season ticket holder from the age of eight so my heroes were Geordan Murphy and Toby Flood and it was a golden era really, winning all those Premiership finals. It’s been a long time since Leicester last won the Premiership in 2013 and every year that’s the ambition, so I want to help the club get back to those heights and would love to play in one of those finals.”
Worth could hardly be better placed as a fullback, given the recent England U20s graduate is now under the tutelage of Tigers legend Murphy as he looks to depose Telusa Veainu and Mat Tait from the No.15 jersey he covets. He explains: “It feels strange being coached by Geordy after watching him for so long, but I pick his brains as much as I can and we do lots of one-on-one stuff.
“Geordy was a bit of a one-off with his outrageous skill-set so to try and resemble him would be a tough task, but he’ll paint the types of pictures he looked for when he was catching the ball and I’m working more on my micro-skills than the out-and-out flair he used to possess.
“I’ve got my own attributes and I love to get my hands on the ball and be another distributor in attack. I like to think I do the full-back basics well – tackle, good under the high ball, that kind of thing – but my passing’s pretty strong and I want to ensure I make full use of that.”
Having recently signed a new contract along with midfield prospect Charlie Thacker, it now falls to Leicester boss Matt O’Connor to back his youngsters and allow them to revitalise the club.
Worth added: “It can be frustrating because I have first team ambitions and it’s tough trying to push guys like Veainu and Tait out of the team. But I’ve got to be patient, keep working on my game and, hopefully, I’ll knock them out at some point. Leicester tell me I’m in their plans, which made re-signing easy, so it’s up to guys like me and Charlie to show what we can do.”