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Cockerill on Leicester Tigers: 'I got the sack because they wanted to be in a better position than they were'

By Online Editors
Richard Cockerill

Richard Cockerill believes former club Leicester Tigers have lost their way and are not too good to be relegated from the Gallagher Premiership.

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The Tigers – two-time European champions and England’s most successful club with 10 Premiership titles – would be bottom of the league had Saracens not been deducted 35 points for breaching salary cap regulations.

Leicester have a 26-point advantage over Saracens, but Cockerill expects that to be wiped out before the end of the season and says the Tigers must find the fight to avoid the drop.

“The first thing they need to do is realise where they’re at and what they need to do next,” said Cockerill, who spent nearly eight years in charge at Welford Road before being sacked in January 2017.

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“I’m not sure Leicester have decided where they’re at. Once you realise that you can do something about it.

“But no-one’s too good to go down. Look at Saracens historically and they will be right in the mix to survive – Leicester will need those 26 points.

“Leicester were in the relegation scrap last year and, unfortunately for them, their season has not started particularly well. They’re in the same boat as last year.”

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Cockerill, who played 250 games for Leicester between 1992 and 2002, joined the club’s coaching staff in 2004 and was promoted to head coach in 2009.

The Tigers were fifth in the Premiership when Cockerill was sacked – 15 points adrift of leaders Wasps – but the former England hooker had brought plenty of silverware to the club during his tenure.

“Sometimes you have to be careful what you wish for,” Edinburgh head coach Cockerill said at the Guinness PRO14 media day in Cardiff.

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“The blunt reality is I got the sack because they wanted to be in a better position than they were.

“I had eight years at the club as coach – we were champions three times, finalists twice and semi-finalists three times.

“We got to a European final, LV Cup and a European semi-final. If that wasn’t good enough then the people that made change need to make it better.”

Leicester visit second-placed Northampton Saints on Saturday and are set to be bolstered by the return of several of their World Cup players.

The Tigers had six in England’s original World Cup partyGeorge Ford, Manu Tuilagi, Jonny May, Ben Youngs, Dan Cole and Ellis Genge.

But Cockerill fears the squad does not have sufficient strength in depth to ward off a relegation battle.

“They’ve got good players,” Cockerill said. “You put those players back into that squad and they’re obviously a much better team.

“They shouldn’t be where they are with the quality of player they’ve got.

“But the reality is in eight weeks time they’re going to be playing Six Nations again and all those players are going to disappear.

“They’re still getting 20,000 people, even with the situation they’re in. It’s a big club with a big supporter base and big expectations.

“But time waits for no person and you can only move forward if you know where you are in the first place. You’ll have to ask the board at Leicester what their plan is.”

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Jon 8 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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