Brits: World Champions loss is Leicester's massive gain
Schalk Brits admits the loss of fitness expert Aled Walters is a massive blow for the World Cup winning Springboks but a significant step forward for the ailing Leicester Tigers, who will now be under the control Steve Borthwick, his former Saracens roommate. Brits knows Walters and Borthwick extremely well and sees their recruitment as vital to Leicester’s bid to recapture former glories after recent damaging upheavals and the departure of England wing Jonny May back to Gloucester.
Tigers would currently be bottom of the suspended Premiership if Saracens had not already been relegated after their salary cap breaches.
Brits was part of the World Cup winning Springbok squad in Japan last year and believes Welshman Walters’ demanding fitness regime was key. “We wouldn’t have won the World Cup without Aled,” said Brits “He played a massive role in how far we got.”
Walters, who had worked with Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus at Munster, now takes that world-class understanding of strength and conditioning to Welford Road as head of physical performance to work alongside Borthwick, the former Saracens captain who is quitting his role as England forwards coach to return to the Gallagher Premiership which could restart in July – Government restrictions permitting.
The combination of Borthwick’s experience at test level allied to Walters understanding of how to physically get the best out of players could be the missing elements Leicester have struggled to find and both now join a reshaped coaching set up under Geordan Murphy, the director of rugby. Working with Borthwick will be Rob Taylor as attack coach, Mike Ford in charge of defence, Brett Deacon the breakdown and assistant forwards and defence coach plus Boris Stankovich, the scrum coach.
Brits told RugbyPass: “Leicester has an unbelievably proud history and for me coming from South Africa, Tigers was the club to beat. With Steve and Aled there they will instil a great work ethic and team culture to the boys. My perception is that Tigers would always push hard, but weren’t always clever in how they did it.
“All across the world people underestimate how him important your strength and conditioning coach is and you can tell a lot about the culture of a team in how they operate in the gym – the kind of vibe you have.
“Rassie had this incredible plan for how he wanted the Springboks to play but you have to have a great S&C coach to look at the stats and look after the players. When we ran too many metres Aled was the one who told Rassie we had to get off the pitch. The coach and the head of S&C have to be walking hand in hand and in my 20 years in the game I have experienced times when they haven’t and it was a nightmare. Going to Tiger is an unbelievable opportunity for Aled and it is a massive loss for South Africa.
“You earn the respect of players through your work ethic, always being on time, making sure the programme is ready and he was spot on for us. Aled knows what he is talking about and if you are not a South African our culture can be a bit tricky and he was completely embraced because he is such an awesome guy. Tigers have made two really great buys in Steve and Aled and they are a great combination.”
Having played alongside Borthwick for five years at Saracens, Brits has no doubt that the former England captain will make a real impact at Welford Road.” Steve was a fantastic captain but somehow became unpopular taking a lot of grief when he was captain of England. As a club captain, he was phenomenal.
“As people, me and Steve are opposites in how we prepare for games and we roomed together for a lot of the trips. Steve would prepare endlessly for the games and I would just rock up and play with a smile on my face because my job as a hooker was made easy by the amazing amount of work Steve did. He would look at the opposition for hours and then tell me where to throw the ball!
“Working under Eddie he has fined tuned those skills and is an incredible student of the game. His work ethic as a player was incredible and he would be doing pre-rehab then rehab because he was dedicated to being the very best he could be.”
Comments on RugbyPass
A wallaby front-row of Bell, Blake and Tupou…now that would be hefty
1 Go to comments“But with an exceptional pass accuracy rating “ Which apart from Roigard is not a feature of any of the other 9s in NZ. Kind of basic for a Black 9 dont.you. think? Yet we keep seeing FC and TJ being rated ahead of him? Weird if it’s seen as vital to get our backline beating in your face defences.
1 Go to commentsThanks BeeMc! Looks like many teams need extra time to settle from the quadrennial northern migration. I think generally the quality of the Rugby has held up. Fiji has been fantastic and fun to watch
13 Go to commentsLets compare apples with apples. Lyon sent weak team the week before, but nobody raised an eyebrow. Give the South African teams a few years to build their depth, then you will be moaning that the teams are too strong.
41 Go to commentsDid footballs agents also perform the scout role at some time? I’m surprised more high profile players haven’t taken up the occupation, great way to remain in the game and use all that experience without really requiring a lot of specific expertise?
1 Go to commentsSuper rugby is struggling but that has little to do with sabbaticals. 1. Too many teams from Aust and NZ - should be 3 and 4 respectively, add in 2 from Japan, 1 possibly 2 from Argentina. 2. Inconsistent and poor refereeing, admittedly not restricted to Super rugby. Only one team was reffed at the breakdown in Reds v H’Landers match. Scrum penalty awarded in Canes v Drua when No 8 had the ball in the open with little defence nearby - ideal opportunity to play advantage. Coming back to Reds match - same scrum situation but ref played advantage - Landers made 10 yards and were penalised at the breakdown when the ref should have returned to scrum penalty. 3. Marketing is weak and losing ground to AFL and NRL. Playing 2 days compared with 4. 4. Scheduling is unattractive to family attendance. Have any franchises heard of Sundays 2pm?
11 Go to commentsAbsolutely..all they need is a chance in yhe playoffs and I bet all the other teams will be nervous…THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN IM THE PLAYOFFS..
2 Go to commentsI really hope he comes back and helps out with some coaching.
1 Go to commentsI think we are all just hoping that the Olympic 7s doesn’t suffer the same sad fate as the last RWC with the officials ruining the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsPersonally, I’ve lost the will to even be bothered about the RFU, the structure, the participants. It’s all a sham. I now simply enjoy getting a group of friends together to go and watch a few games a year in different locations (including Europe, the championship, etc). I feel extremely sorry for the real fans of these clubs who are constantly ignored by the RFU and other administrators. I feel especially sorry for the fans of clubs in the Championship who have had considerable central funding stripped away and are then expected to just take whatever the RFU put to them. Its all a sham, especially if the failed clubs are allowed to return.
10 Go to commentsI’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
11 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
4 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
24 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
4 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
10 Go to commentsWell that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
35 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
35 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
17 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
4 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to comments