WRW SIX NATIONS EXTRA: WHO IS GEORGE MARTIN??
Find out more about Leicester's latest England hopeful...
CONGRATULATIONS GEORGE MARTIN
Name me the last Leicester Academy player to win a first England cap while still employed by the Tigers.
Answer to your question - it’s Tom Youngs, who got on against Fiji in November 2012. What a season that turned out to be for the current skipper, ending in Australia on the Lions tour.
Nine long years ago…..which is quite an alarming stat though Billy Twelvetrees, Kieran Brookes and George Ford all made debuts, while at other clubs after leaving Leicester during that time.
As Ian Cockerill points out, Ellis Genge was a Leicester player when he made his debut and had made his move from Bristol permanent since 2016. (Which means I got it wrong first time around. Oops..)
While Freddie Steward has got most plaudits this season out of the young guns, the young player most likely to me to make an impact internationally has always been Martin. Of course, he hasn’t got his cap yet, but if Eddie were to go for a 6-2 bench next weekend…..
19 years of age, now at 6’6 and nearly 19 stones in weight, Martin’s size and power have never been difficult to spot. Given the way their teams like to play, you can see why both Borthwick and Jones would be intrigued in such a physical specimen.
And not to knock him, but Sam Simmonds is 4 stones lighter - size is not everything but Simmonds is lighter than most Premiership opensides, let alone number eights. I can’t ignore the comparison with Neil Back, it seems some coaches do judge back-row forwards on size. By the way, the comparison between Martin and the Exeter man is completely pointless - apples and oranges don’t even cover it.
Those who watch junior rugby in Leicestershire have had their eye on him for some time. Martin started within mini-rugby, going on to play 8 at colts level for Loughborough RFC.
There was even a brief flirtation with the 10 shirt in a Colts semi-final against Syston. Now you can see the attraction - put the big man nearest the scrum-half and cut the middle man out. Oh to be the opposition fly-half.
(NB It didn’t entirely work. Syston won and would go onto claim the league and cup that season.)
Look at the above photo of Leicestershire U16s back in 2017 (if I see this elsewhere, I know where you got it from…)
Martin - no dodgy beard then - is further on the right, back row. Second row partner Tom Manz is 8th from the left on the back row. And is that Jack Van Poortvliet in the middle of the front row?
Martin would play alongside Manz for all bar one of Leicester’s Academy games in 2018-19, when they would go on to bear Gloucester in the Final, the first of three successive titles. He captained England Under-18s that season too and has clearly overcome an 2019/20 season where he suffered from injury. But there is a sense too that Martin was destined for bigger things.
Always competitive, quick, powerful and a leader of the cussed sort few other clubs appreciate more than Leicester, Martin’s vision and hands have been the biggest source of improvement in recent years and perhaps being in the Leicester production line has helped mature him. He will also know that having an edge to your game is one thing, but it can’t go too far at elite level. Working with a coach like Borthwick wouldn’t have hurt either.
While he has made only seven Tigers appearances, a knee ligament injury kept him out for the back end of last season and the beginning of this one. I suspect that Martin is being brought in by England as a fast-track prospect, less for what he can do now and more for what he could do in 12 to 18 months. And we know Eddie Jones likes that sort of project.
He is some serious talent and barring a loss of form, a World Cup place is not beyond him. You just hope that further injury stays away. Good luck to him.
VAN WYK MARK II
A week which began where Leicester signed a tight-head prop, ends…..with Leicester signing a loose-head.
Northampton confirmed last night Francois Van Wyk who’s spent four years at the Gardens, is leaving and he is heading up the A6 to Welford Road. His commute won’t change much, then.
A strong scrummager, he is arguably Saints’ best loose-head in the setpiece and at 6’2/6’3, is taller than average for a prop and only just smaller than Leatigaga.
Van Wyk’s arrival in the summer will leave Leicester employing Genge, Van Wyk and Bower as it stands, along with Leatigaga whose only starts have come at loosehead this season. That also then leaves on the other side - Cole, Heyes and new signing Will Hurd. Is that Leicester done with signing props?
MONEY MATTERS PT II
It’s fair to say, that the news of Leicester’s loan facility of up to £3 million as explored in WRW #14, has been widely discussed. I guess it was always likely to end up with a follow-up.
If you’re not sure on certain respects, can I humbly recommend the first 10-15 mins of the Leicester Tigers Rugby Show podcast please, set up m’ good friend Adam Whitty, who more than makes up for expertise, what he lacks in hair. Feedback has been quite positive both privately and publically.
Taking the slightly longer view and thanks to those who have contacted WRW in the last 48 hours, if any funds have been used by now, they would certainly be very welcome.
I say “if”, because the likelihood is that this is a procedural move and the loan has not been utilised. Let me explain two reasons why that matters based on conversations with three financial sources.
Firstly, you want to use the facility when you absolutely need to boost your cashflow, not take it and use straight away.
But second and more seriously, Leicester Football Club PLC were given extra time to file their accounts under Covid-19 legislation, which means they are now due to be filed on March 31st- roughly six weeks from now. We would probably see them a few days or even weeks later.
To get the accounts approved, the Auditor would need to see Leicester as a going concern, which is far from easy if you don’t have any indication when crowds are going to return in any numbers. No auditor is going to wave accounts through willy nilly, because they have professional indemnity insurance, ie they can be sued.
When as much as £7-8 million worth of income has disappeared down the toilet, we know Leicester like every other rugby club, is on its uppers without matchday income. That is why the Sport England scheme is so important. SE told me in a statement that that they have “not announced any funding commitments to PRL clubs" even though we know from Companies House records that they are involved in discussions with Newcastle, London Irish and of course, Leicester. The money has not arrived yet, then, which was confirmed to me by Tigers, and we may yet be at an early stage in that respect.
So this is likely to be a manoeuvre with more relevance to the accounts which satisfies all parties and allows Tigers to publish the accounts before the end of next month.
We don’t actually know whether this facility has been used or not and we won’t probably know until the 2021 accounts are published later this year or in early 2022.
Also, this doesn’t entirely fit in with the “greedy owners trying to make a fast buck” with this charge falling below HSBC, Everards & (in time) Sport England in terms of priority of repayment. I suspect Sport England would take a dim view of loans being convertible at the moment, too.
So my comparison with a bridging loan on Wednesday, is completely false. This development doesn’t mean that Tigers are about to go belly-up but the sooner we can get crowds back to Welford Road, the better.
TEAM NEWS IS IN
Shame not to see JVP start again, but Wigglesworth is quality of course. Wiese will be a welcome return. It’s a sign of the times that this squad now has quite a settled look to it.
And as for Wasps:
QUICK HITS
The 2023 Rugby World Cup fixtures will be published a week today, according to the organisers. This is the link for the stream.
🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱
UK fans can add Japan’s Top League to Top 14 and Super Rugby as another top flight rugby competition currently out of reach in terms of any broadcast deal. https://t.co/GBuRbAwrnQJRFU is happy to announce that Japan Rugby Top League 2021 will be broadcast in New Zealand and Australia. 31 matches will be broadcasted exclusively in New Zealand on Sky, while in Australia, Stan Sport will broadcast 25 matches. More details below 👇 https://t.co/hLuqiWXZ6h
Japan Rugby @JRFURugby
RUNNING FROM DEEP
Not entirely sure what Progressive Rugby can do to stand it out from the competition for attention on concussion, but it has made a splash with its launch this week. Quoted in the Guardian, they state their aims:
“World Rugby has a moral and legal duty to minimise risk,” reads the letter, “and to inform players and parents of the risk of brain damage from repeated knocks. Evidence of the existence of brain disorders in retired players supports the contention that participation in rugby union can cause brain damage. The awareness of the association with traumatic brain injury and participation in rugby union is of paramount importance for both the players and the sport itself.”
Add this group involving Jamie Cudmore, James Haskell and Alix Popham, into the melee.
On a similar theme, how do Aussie Rules deal with the issue? The Guardian looked at their setting up of a players’ trust, which mirrors how the sport there has been slow to move, much like rugby and other contact sports.
This week Guardian Australia broke the news the AFL is considering a proposal to establish a A$2bn trust to provide for the aftercare for players suffering the long-term effects of brain trauma, split into payments of A$25m a year for 80 years. It would be a huge step forward for the sport. It comes just weeks after the AFL’s decision to double the return-to-play time for concussed players (from six to 12 days) and a sign the game is moving closer towards confronting the problem instead of trying to disown it.
If you’ve ever wondered about the strategy behind kicking, be it from restarts or in open play, Charles Richardson - part of the Leicester bid for world media domination - has that guide in the Telegraph with some excellent diagrams. Behind a paywall, but perhaps Charles - who subscribes to WRW - can persuade his bosses to loosen the strings for Wales v England next weekend?
And it seems the Top League in Japan has a shopping list, according to the Telegraph..
The success of the England team in reaching the 2019 World Cup final staged in Japan has significantly grown their profile in the Far East. With the competition undergoing major reforms, Top League chairman Osamu Ota is hoping to make it an irresistible destination for the world’s top stars.
“We have George Kruis and we also have Alex Goode at another team,” Ota told The Daily Telegraph through an intepreter. “They are current England international players for England which is a great thing for us. In addition to them, if we can have Maro Itoje and Owen Farrell in the future in our league that would be a great thing for us. We also have Greig Laidlaw. Those European players are very popular in Japan. I want to make our league an attractive to league so that every player, wherever they are, will give consideration to coming here at some point in their career.”
Yeah, yeah. But what about Freddie?
A lot of good stuff out there right now, including this from ex-Tiger Will Evans on RugbyPass:
Don’t talk rugby very often but I do think about it deeply once in a while. Ultimately, the game has to be a product people want to watch and most players will have a good idea of how to do that. https://t.co/CfVGIbNV3N'It’s painful when someone weighing 130kg runs as hard as they can at someone else' 'The Clamp' @will_evans69 tells @JLyall93 👨💻 why he had to change his jackaling style, talks Jack Willis injury & fears of brain damage at rugby's brutal coal face https://t.co/tv07DNr7S5
RugbyPass @RugbyPass
“I don’t care about my shoulders or my knees,” Evans tells RugbyPass. “It’s more: am I going to be a vegetable by the time I’m 50?
“There’s a great amount of data; we are wearing chips in our gumshields that monitor G-force, so we are getting looked after the best we possibly could be in the whole history of rugby. I have to put some faith in the people behind the scenes, but I do worry sometimes what I’m going to be like when I’m slightly older.
“If you’re making 20 tackles a weekend, it can’t be good for, firstly, your head, and the rest of your body.”
That’s your lot for this week and enjoy the game against Wasps. Things to do this weekend so I’ll see you ‘orrible lot next Wednesday.
PS Many thanks for those of you who have just joined up for WRW. You’re welcome to leave a comment and I’m more than willing to discuss ideas for features you would like to see.
If the stats are right, numbers have grown by nearly 30% in the last month. Thanks so much for your support and I look forward to your company as the season continues.
Absolutely Tim....
Well spotted...the vital word Academy missing from the version in your mailboxes. All corrected...
George Martin had a season in Nat2 South with Leicester Lions, though he missed a few games after being red carded for head butting someone, early on. Tigers have got their pipeline of yoof coming into the senior side again, long may that continue.