How Tigers emerged with credit from season that was never going to be a walk in the park
JOHN WIFFEN LOOKS BACK OVER A CAMPAIGN OF DRAMATIC UPHEAVAL
THE Gallagher Premiership season ended with Saracens defeating Sale Sharks to lift the trophy. It is hard to argue that the men from North London weren’t the best team from the first whistle in September to the last in May.
Leicester Tigers couldn’t retain their crown, but of course, circumstances were always going to make it difficult.
First, their two most important players from 2021-22 made their way towards the exit door - George Ford and Ellis Genge.
The second challenge to retain their title was expected. There’s a reason it is so difficult to retain a title: the target is on the back of the champions, every side finds 5 per cent more motivation to beat them, and that pressure inevitably weighs heavy.
Those two challenges made for a difficult start to the season – a last-minute defeat on the opening day, a huge defeat to Saracens and a morale-sapping home defeat to Sale, intertwined with another big win at Franklin’s Gardens and a fantastic performance away at Harlequins. In truth, the form was patchy before
Christmas.
The seminal moment of Leicester Tigers’ season came on Saturday, November 26. After a poor autumn campaign, the boos rang loudly and clearly around Twickenham, and from that moment Eddie Jones’s role as England head coach was untenable.
Instantly, the rumour mill cranked into life and the favourite was immediately Tigers head coach Steve Borthwick. After weeks of toing and fro-ing, the deal was done, for a reported £1 million to take Borthwick and his defence coach, Kevin Sinfield, to England. There wasn’t any animosity towards Borthwick or Sinfield from fans, but it’s fair to say the RFU could have handled matters better, on all counts.
The man to replace him, in the short-term at least, was Richard Wigglesworth, the attack coach who would retire as a Premiership great to take on the role. He said he felt obliged to step up and lead the group.
In the first couple of weeks there was further difficulty, despite a good performance to win the inaugural Slater Cup against Gloucester on Christmas Eve, big defeats either side of New Year left little hope
for some that anything could be made of the season.
A week later, a fantastic performance in the Stade Marcel-Michelin gave a reprieve from domestic matters. Clermont are by no means the perennial European bridesmaids they once were, yet still have a fantastic home record.
Harry Simmons scored a try that will live long in the memory, and Handré Pollard was finding his feet after a tough start with injury after his big-money move.
The form at home was still not up to scratch, though, with second and third home defeats of the campaign coming to Ospreys and Northampton Saints on consecutive weekends.
The former cost them a favourable draw in the Champions Cup, and the latter left them with an 8 per cent chance of making the Premiership play-offs, according to analysts Oval Insights.
February brought two weeks off and a chance to make some tweaks to the team before a run of fixtures that on current form looked daunting. It also gave shock new signing Mike Brown time to really bed into the side.
First came Saracens, who were dispatched at home. Brown, Cameron Henderson and Hanro Liebenberg were superb. That was followed by a massive win at London Irish the following week and the feeling of relief from the camp was palpable that the side was back on track.
Further wins against Bath, Gloucester and Bristol followed in March before Jasper Wiese provided a masterclass to beat Edinburgh and see his side through to the quarter finals of the Champions Cup.
It was to be a repeat of last season, as Leinster stood in Tigers’ way. This time it was in Dublin, although the result was the same. The 500 fans who made their way across the Irish sea at short notice rightly got huge credit.
Back in the league came the performance of the season, a 62-19 win against Exeter. That game will forever be remembered as the day Chris Ashton scored his century of tries in the competition. A closelyfought loss to Harlequins followed, but top four and an away trip to Sale were secured.
This proved a step too far. Sale were a hugely intimidating side, in good form themselves, and with master marksman George Ford guiding them majestically, it was always going to be a huge test.
From an 8 per cent chance and the season being a write-off, to where it ended, so many deserve huge credit.
Wigglesworth surely deserves the most, in his first head coaching gig, as he took a down-in-the-dumps side to a play-offs place.
Leicester came a long way in a short time, but ultimately fell short before the final hurdle. The future is unbelievably bright though, and Tigers head coach Dan McKellar must be licking his lips at the opportunity.