Tigers can turn it around, honestly
JONNY MAY has demanded Leicester be honest and follow England’s example to dig themselves out of the hole they are in.
May’s wounded Tigers have lost six in a row in all competitions, lie three points off bottom spot in the Premiership and are 7-1 outsiders to beat Racing 92 in Paris tomorrow.
A week ago, they were beaten 41-10 at Bristol, maintaining their status as the worst defence in English rugby’s top flight, with them shipping an average of 33 points a game.
Despite having the England backline quartet of Manu Tuilagi, George Ford, Ben Youngs and May, few give Leicester a chance of ending their losing streak in France.
“It’s time to be honest,” said winger May. “To say, ‘Do you know what, it’s quite clear we’re not good enough at the moment’. To go back to basics. It’s time for us each to
focus on doing our own role better. There’s probably 15 men out there not doing their role as well as they could.”
Leicester, England’s biggest club, have been on the slide for too long. No major trophy in six years; four head coaches since January 2017.
Last season was a disaster as they failed to reach the play-offs for the first time since 2004, but at least they made Europe. This season, they sacked Matt O’Connor as boss after one game and the R-word is being whispered.
“Not by us it’s not,” said May. “This is not a time to be thinking either of top four or relegation,
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it’s a time to focus on our performance.
“Look at England. If you go through a tough time and you keep your head down and work incredibly hard, you can be there or thereabouts at the end of the year.
“We [England] lost five in a row, worked hard and won one, worked harder, then were a point away from beating the All Blacks and being four from four in the autumn.”
The Tigers are expected to appoint a defence coach this month but May insists caretaker boss Geordan Murphy retains the full support of the dressing room.
Former favourite Toby Flood says it is high time the club hand Murphy the role fulltime, saying: “It would be remiss of Leicester to let this guy slide by. They could probably find someone with a better CV,” said Flood. “But you won’t find anybody who wants it as much and has as big a desire as Geordie does.”
There’s 15 men out there not doing as well as they could