WRW #2: SO IT BEGINS AGAIN (in all sorts of ways)
What do the fates have in store for Leicester?
GOODBYE GEORDIE
Like a lot of people, I will miss Geordan Murphy not being around Welford Road. He is as genuinely fine a man as has been said - you could properly have a beer with him and a laugh, not that I had the opportunity to do that too often.
As engaging and affable as he is, there is a proper steel behind him and that showed in flashes when the background music was often more chaos than chillout.
There are two elements to this story: his tenure at the club as a coach and then the situation around his departure.
Let’s deal separately with each.
PT.1
It has been a rough couple of years on the field and yet it started promisingly enough during difficult circumstances.
Leicester have never quite lived down sacking Matt O’Connor after just one game of the 2017-18 season, even though it only took a few months for both Richard Cockerill and Aaron Mauger to be dispensed with. But after MOC got the P45, someone had to replace him and Murphy was the one landed with the brown, smelly sandwich.
For someone who had been within the coaching team for some years, it felt worth a shot at the time and it started reasonably enough. Tigers were in the European places in late October before narrowly avoiding relegation.
While there were some signs of a club beginning to work in the right direction in the last two seasons - Academy products getting a chance most obviously - those results clearly did not bear them out, with some alarming defeats on the road, Northampton and London Irish away standing out to me.
Even friends of his have doubted the ex-Ireland international’s specific coaching credentials. There were certainly issues with the lineout especially, fitness and repeated defensive issues but while these were on his watch, even the best of coaches would have struggled to gel three different groups of players, all signed by his three very different predecessors with similarly varied gameplans.
By all accounts, he is a good man-manager, wasn’t afraid to seek advice and obviously the academy thanks to his long time at the club.
There’s no question he needed an experienced coaching structure around him - and who knows how much he would have learned from a spell abroad such as that enjoyed by Pat Howard and Richard Cockerill in Montferrand. I can't think of more difficult circumstances in which to take on a job.
That oft-quoted report put together by Howard is understood to have recommended keeping Murphy as DOR - the last Tigers coach to win a trophy in 2017 - within a more comprehensive coaching structure and as was made public, advocated stability around the coaching team.
In hindsight, was it too comprehensive, as one observer suggested this week? With up to 47 recommendations, did it allow the club the flexibility to turn around things more quickly?
Or are Tigers interested in the long-term at all?
PT.2
This leads on to Murphy’s departure, which has removed the scales from some supporters’ eyes as to how brutally professional sport can operate. The irony is that Howard’s review proposed giving Murphy the support he needed, only for it to turn into the ready-made alternative to him.
(I haven’t seen the report, but if you know someone who’s the sharing type, do get in touch at welfordroadweekly@substack.com :) )
If you recall, when the deal to bring Borthwick in was revealed, Murphy was confident he would remain in charge of 1st team affairs.
Then just before he joined the club, Borthwick was revealed as being the main man in selection albeit in a vaguely collective sense. Who reported to whom was never laid out consistently.
It’s inconceivable that Borthwick and Murphy would not have approved key appointments in advance and that would have been part of the conspicuously detailed planning going into this period.
Murphy and Borthwick were noticeably working in tandem at Gloucester, when we were sat next to them in the Kingsholm press area.
But by Bristol, as the Telegraph’s Charlie Morgan noted on last week’s BBC Leicester podcast, Borthwick’s comments the day after, suggested Tigers “had badly lost its way” over a number of years and as you will find out, those words were rare in their severity.
Tom Varndell’s comments in yesterday’s Mercury strike a chord. Having Borthwick, Ford and Murphy together has always felt more like a holding pattern, than anything long-term. Just because you are Director of Rugby, doesn't necessarily put you in charge.
Some within Welford Road even feel that Murphy’s days have been numbered for some time. I am led to believe Murphy's contract did not escape redrafting in the summer amid the public furore surrounding The Manu Five (was his publicised notice period reduced then?) Now throw in the losing control of first team affairs - you’d be looking over your shoulder, wouldn’t you?
So goodbye to the Howard Report, hello to the Borthwick Show - though let's be plain, he has been running the game plan throughout post-lockdown.
The Rugby Committee is apparently now the relic of the amateur days it should have been years ago, so it’s a direct line of accountability between Borthwick and executive chairman Peter Tom. So with fewer mechanics now fiddling under the car bonnet, Leicester are now set to leave the pits.
Buckle up.
The talk is of a 3 year project. Danny Care on Rugby Union Weekly suggested the grapevine puts it at 5. But based on the last seven years, Tigers tend to give it no more than two…
2013: Tigers win their most recent Premiership title under DOR Richard Cockerill and Head Coach Matt O’Connor. The Australian leaves and is not replaced.
2015: Aaron Mauger is now appointed Head Coach, but his role appears to clash with Cockerill’s role
2017: Cockerill is sacked in January, Mauger in March, with O’Connor re-appointed in May- despite internal advice - as Head Coach. The DOR role is abolished.
2018: Murphy becomes Head Coach after O’Connor is sent on his way after one game.
2020: Murphy becomes DOR, as Borthwick arrives as Head Coach in July. By November, Murphy is gone and the DOR role with him.
2021: ?
THE FUTURE AHEAD
So the season begins here..and it promises to be a pivotal opening six weeks. Through no-one’s fault but that damn pandemic, Gloucester at home now looks exceedingly tough.
Away trips to London Irish and Worcester sandwich a visit from the Double winners, Exeter. In the New Year, Bath arrive in the East Midlands before Derby Day in Northampton.
How Leicester could do with 3 or 4 wins from that - especially on the road - but will they get them?
The pandemic will undoubtedly rear its head again in ways we are yet to learn and with Oval Park just reopening, Leicester are only the first to suffer.
Assuming there are no further problems between now and Saturday, there is nothing to worry about. But for future reference, the only scenario that matters is whether Leicester can raise a 23.
If you can’t raise a team, that’s it. No postponements. Only forfeitures we are told. Although, only the last-minute intervention by Public Health England forced the Premiership to delay Sale’s Round 22 game last season and I would want to read any new regulations to see if this scenario could not happen again.
And this matters, because at some stage, more outbreaks will happen before clubs and internationals get access to either of the two vaccines on the way.
Let’s just hope forfeitures don’t cost a place in the top four or worse, Premiership status.
THE CORNER FOR A BIT OF HERO-WORSHIP FOR PABLO MATERA
If you missed Argentina getting their first win over New Zealand, here are the key moments:
Not a spare glass of Malbec left in Sydney after this…
And Pablo. Oh, Pablo…
You and I only look like this, when we have to do another Zoom call.
THE WEEKEND’S OTHER INTERNATIONALS
BIG HITS (To the bank balance)
You can get 33/1 on Tigers making the top four.
I have seen more outlandish bets than that….though I’m still tempted.
In contrast, these are the odds for finishing bottom (yes I know it reflects weight of money but it’s interesting to see what the market says)
Falcons 8/11 Fav
Worcester 5/2
London Irish 7/1
TIGERS 10/1 (were 16/1 last week - what happened exactly?)
Northampton 33/1
Bar 50/1
RUNNING FROM DEEP
The question of what next for Argentine rugby is raised by the Telegraph’s Gavin Mairs, who notes that the Pumas will have no Super Rugby to play in from 2021 onwards:
The strategic review of Super Rugby by the NZRU, known as Aratipu, left the Jaguares out in the cold, which will inevitably lead to the break-up of the professional squad based in Argentina and lead to the best talent returning to Europe to play their rugby.
Argentina have retained their place in the Rugby Championship outlined for the next decade but without structures in place domestically – the 2021 Super Rugby tournament is an New Zealand and Australian affair only - it will once again become increasingly tough for Los Pumas to regularly compete outside of the four-year World Cup cycle.
More detail on that Aussie TV deal I mentioned last week. Domestic-only with international income to come…but regular free-to-air coverage and more money.
Not quite BT Sport figures but very popular Down Under. A decent thread here from the editor of greenandgoldrugby.com.
Food for thought from the NFL??
Thanks to you for leaving comments after last week’s opener. Intrigued this week to find out any thoughts ahead of the pre-season. Let me know your thoughts.
To those of you who sent such warm feedback last week, thank you. I’m ever so grateful. Thanks too to those who’ve signed up for newsletters since last week.
Do pass on to your friends and look forward to seeing you all at Welford Road soon.
Another great read Chris. Thank you.
In 60 or so hours we’ll know whether the words spouted by Youngs & Borthwick were empty or not. New look, new start, take eleven. I’m not particularly confident were prepared for the season, let alone the match on Saturday, departure of Stankovich, Taylor and Murphy coupled with the C-19 shutdown of training is not ideal. I’m hugely worried that there is nobody there to assist Borthwick, but maybe he thinks there’s nothing anybody at the club can give him; if that’s the truth, it’s even more worrying. Heart says we’ll be fine, top 8, head says it’s gonna be painful.
Thanks for producing a newsletter each week Chris. It will be good to get your perspective on all things Tigers as the season progresses.
You can still get 16/1 on Tigers to finish bottom with Sky Bet. I don't think it will happen as I believe if relegation was a real prospect last season, we would have focussed solely on the Premiership after the restart and finished higher up the table, but it's worth a couple of quid as compensation should the worst occur!