A cynic may say you don’t need an attack coach when you don’t do any attacking!
ANOTHER week and another departure from the Leicester Tigers coaching staff.
The departure of Boris Stankovich, scrum coach, was announced on October 16 for undisclosed reasons, albeit to warm tributes from all parties.
This week, the Tigers granted Rob Taylor an early release from his contract with the club on compassionate grounds, allowing the assistant coach to return to New Zealand.
Taylor arrived in Leicester from Australia in June, ahead of the resumption of the 2019/20 campaign, to oversee the Tigers attack.
Stankovich’s time with the club could be seen as the one unalloyed success in the period.
For long stretches it appeared that the only part of the Tigers game that was functioning at and beyond Premiership level was that of the scrum.
Even when all around things were falling apart, that particular setpiece was a source of both possession and regular penalties.
At the end of the season the dominance of this particular area did appear to be diminished and one wondered whether the amount of time taken to (successfully, to be fair) put the malfunctioning line-out back on track was eating into the time spent in practising the scrum.
Whatever else happens it would be a surprise not to see Stankovich (who worked with Canada in the recent World Cup) quickly snapped up somewhere to bring his undoubted expertise into play.
Meanwhile, Taylor’s appointment appeared to be an excellent one, bringing in an up-and-coming coach with plenty to prove to oversee what had been a very sterile
Leicester attack. Whilst it may not be Taylor’s fault, his time at Tigers will not provide him with much in the way of additions to his highlights reel, as the tactic of continually kicking the ball away and defending continued under head coach Steve Borthwick.
There are compassionate grounds for Taylor’s release and it is to be hoped that any personal issues are dealt with successfully. Everyone wishes him well.
However, the cynical might suggest there is little point in paying an attack coach when the team has no intention of attacking!
Either way, losing a significant fraction of the coaching team this close to the scheduled start of the new season will not be ideal for the preparation of the squad.
Borthwick will be taking on another aspect of the forwards, as well as his head coach duties, a challenging workload, even on an interim basis.
Whilst some of the changes might be cost influenced and therefore necessary, hopes for a quick bounce in Tigers’ fortunes become more like wishes than expectation.