WRW FRIDAY: TIGERS TO RISE AGAIN IN EUROPE?
PRIORITIES, PRIORITIES?
More rotations from the coaching staff for this, the first of hopefully two European weekends for Tigers.
Certainly, there are players here who can do with the runout, especially Jonny McPhillips who earns a rare start. In fact, the former Ulster fly-half had played less than 80 minutes in eight replacement appearances, but his form especially in the second half against Newcastle probably means he deserves to wear 10, with Henry at 15. If something were to happen to Ford - will he play next week? - McPhillips may give Henry more of a run for the 10 jersey than some think.
Henry can show what he can do at 15, after starting there against Bath last season. It does show how light Leicester are in that position, that Steward is on the bench with Murimurivalu rested. Nic Dolly gets a bench place ahead of Jake Kerr, as does Will Hurd.
For those who want to see Tigers win the Challenge Cup this season, this selection may come as a disappointment. Leicester are quoted as fourth or fifth favourites to win this competition and with an open draw for the semi-finals due, they have as much chance as anyone.
But any side including international talent such as De Bruin, Lavanini, Martin, Wiese, Youngs and Moroni ought to put on a show and with Connacht coming at full strength, this will be a very interesting test.
HOW TO GROW THE CLUB?
When you are winning things and the trophy cabinet is bulging with silverware that you start to become aware of how much Duraglit you need this week, life is your friend.
After all, who can question you? Count my trophies. Look at what you could have won, but actually, we DID! We. Know. Best. Sustained success builds that reassurance to the ego that only the true greats have.
Few questioned how he achieved things but Frank Sinatra is supposed to have had style in an uber-masculine way, if you like, My Way. Sinatra had a degree of self-regard, it’s fair to say. The ultimate classless way to go out became his signature song, and not just down to his phrasing:
Sinatra worked on his delivery and phrasing before entering the studio, getting into the mood of the song in his mind. He nailed it in one phenomenal take. Nonetheless, he had misgivings about what he saw as the brashness of the lyric. “Every time I get up to sing that song, I grit my teeth,” he would say later, “because no matter what the image may seem to be, I hate boastfulness in others. I hate immodesty.”
This is the same Frank Sinatra who, in 1954, had paid for a full-page advertisement in Billboard announcing all the awards he had won and all the movies he was filming, signing off: “Busy, busy, busy – Frank.” And the same Sinatra who had told the Guys and Dolls musical director, Frank Loesser: “We’ll do it my way, or you can fuck off.”
To get by at the top for so long, you have to be a little bulletproof in approach and you can be assured that Peter Tom doesn’t care too much what others think about him either.
Any thought of him sitting by the fire, in pipe and slippers in his 80th year, should think again. No major decisions are taken without him. One rumour around his quarrying companies was that he would deliberately relieve someone senior of their employment just before Christmas, “pour encourager les autres.”
With that sort of power comes a responsibility to get the big calls right and set out a vision for the future. Hence Sunday’s Telegraph article with Gavin Mairs which offered little new to a local audience but revealed much about how Leicester’s hierarchy sees themselves as a club going forward. These are the key bits:
Tom estimates that the club has ‘burned £10 million’ since the first lockdown. Yet after a combination of Government loans and more investment (including another £3 million from his own pockets as well as from fellow major shareholder Tom Scott) and the support of their season-ticket holders and sponsors, he insists the club is once again financially secure.
…..
Central to the process of change was the full implementation of a ‘no holds barred’ review by former Leicester player and head coach Pat Howard in 2019 to address Leicester’s alarming slump in form over the last five years.
“All of us were criticised quite rightly for all sorts of things,” revealed Tom. “We had started to move in terms of some of his recommendations and then, with the advent of the pandemic, we had to act more quickly and in a funny way we were fortunate in that it made us tackle issues earlier."
…
The move to address the levels of salaries at the top end have helped to make the club more sustainable and Tom expects smaller squads in the future.
“We started out with a lot of issues, some of which ended up in the media about disgruntled players.
“We have settled everyone now, we have no outstanding claims and settled them in a way that the people who have left, despite what took place, will always be welcomed back at Welford Road and hopefully hasn’t left a bad taste in the mouth.
…..
“We had all realised within Premiership Rugby – and maybe the Saracens’ salary cap issue was the switching on of the lights – that we couldn’t continue to pay the players at the levels they were being paid. I suspect we are going to see the salary cap come down again which will have an impact in making the clubs more sustainable.
“I also think you are going to see smaller squads so that more players get games. We have put quite a few players out on loan to Nottingham and Coventry and I think you will see more of that.”
There’s a certain rewriting of the history books there, but the more important questions are how Leicester becomes better positioned to compete with its leading rivals in England and Europe?
Salaries may be heading downwards now, but their rate of increase was not unique to Premiership Rugby. How did the Premier League handle its hyper-wage inflation? It’s built a brand right around the world so that its television income globally rivals and now surpasses that of its domestic rights.
If all was well within the running of rugby, CVC would not be interested. In this case, the Premiership - and other rugby bodies - are very much sellers, not buyers, which means that the absence of any transparent plan by CVC should still concern.
The story of the last two years is CVC slowly building their leverage up within the game, with reportedly South Africa now their latest target. Financial experts tell me it will be within 3-5 years before we see any absolute value that CVC create. So what is the plan??? How do they intend to increase revenue, beyond TV rights for the Six Nations?
Where is the capital and what are the metrics to allow Leicester and others to grow their clubs? No-one has ever grown a business, by cutting expenses. If there are savings to be
On the field, a smaller payroll will not necessarily put pressure on the top or bottom ends of salaries, but that middle tier between say £200,000 and £350,000 - where Leicester will have recruited most strongly in the last 12 months. The likes of Toulouse, Lyon and Racing 92 might be showing some wage prudence right now. But if Leicester do start climbing the table, when the effects of the Top 14's TV deal are felt, how long will that last?
There appears to be a conservativism within Leicester’s approach for the next few years - cut costs, reduce expenses. The “pay off” for great businesses is less about the bottom line, but drawing in publicity and attention, winning trophies and increasing the value of your assets. Where do Leicester achieve those goals?
TROUBLE IN DUBLIN
Leinster’s Champions Cup game with Toulon was cancelled earlier today after a front rower tested positive with Covid-19. This potentially left all other front rowers as close contacts.
Remember this is the same Toulon team who pulled out of a game against Scarlets ONE HOUR before kick-off, after the Welsh team tested positive.
It has emerged that EPCR told Toulon the fixture could potentially be postponed until Sunday but only if six other front-row players considered to have been in closest contact with the affected individual were stood down. In a statement Toulon described this request as “an obvious sporting impossibility” and expressed “amazement” at the governing body’s proposal.
Further clarification thus came:
Ironically, EPCR did try and make it plain what the rules were, earlier this week.
Cancelled match
If it is deemed that a match might be in doubt due to, for example, a club having one or more positive PCR test results arising from testing three days prior to kick-off, EPCR’s Match Day Medical Risk Assessment Committee will meet to determine whether the match can be played safely.If a match cannot be played safely, it will be cancelled and the club whose COVID-19 status has NOT forced the cancellation will progress to the next round. If the COVID-19 status of BOTH clubs forces a match cancellation, or if there is some other reason why a match is unable to go ahead at the scheduled time, then the matter will be referred to a Match Result Resolution Committee to determine which club (if any) will progress to the next round.
Leinster have reportedly now been given the win on walkover. Toulon, your move.
Let’s just hope we get through the rest of the weekend unscathed.
LAST ORDERS..
One last push for the survey which remains in its Google Form place. There’s been a healthy take-up until now, but more responses would definitely be welcome.
A few suggestions have come through loud and clear, but should you not know, there is already a website that lists all the articles.
Look out for some tweaks then over the next few weeks as I try to take your comments on board. But if I don’t hear from you, then I don’t know what you want to say.
Busy week this week so I am going to take a break for Easter. Normal service resumes on Wednesday.
Have a good break yourself….see you soon.
Chris