‘You’ll get the blame whether it is your decision or someone else’s’ - Cockerill fires warnings to Murphy over Leicester job
Richard Cockerill is inextricably linked to Leicester Tigers, 23 years as a player, head coach and Director of Rugby. It was an association that was ended in January last year when he was sacked with the club lying fifth in the Premiership.
It was a decision that clearly rankles with the 27-times capped England hooker, who led the Tigers to Premiership success in 2009, 2010 and 2013, with the club reaching the playoffs in each season of his tenure. Since his departure from Welford Road Aaron Mauger and Matt O’Connor have been and gone and now it’s Geordan Murphy in charge of the club.
“I was either a finalist or a semi-finalist and that wasn’t good enough. So people can bring their own conclusions from that.”
“I don’t want to comment too much around the hierarchy, but the reality is if you sack me, you sack Aaron Mauger, you sack Matt O’Conner – were all three of us that poor that you have to keep making change,” he said in an exclusive interview with RugbyPass.
“Now it’s Geordie, who is a good man and you just hope he gets looked after because there’s another guy that – if you’re not careful – is going to end up out the door and the same people are making those decisions.”
“I love Leicester Tigers as a club because it is my club, I was there a long time, I have no angst against them, but to have sacked three coaches in less than two years, it’s more than the coaching isn’t it.”
Asked whether politics is the big problem at Leicester, Cockerill replied “I think you just need stability. You need support within the group and it’s one thing Leicester haven’t had in the last 20 months is stability.”
Cockerill played alongside Murphy, winning multiple Premiership titles as well as two Heineken Cups in 2001 and 2002. Murphy was also part of Cockerill’s coaching staff and despite a relatively quiet and reserved public demeanour, Cockerill says there’s more to the former Ireland international.
“Even though he’s a very affable, nice Dubliner, he’s got a steely edge about him which probably not many people have seen before, so I think he knows what he wants from the team and he knows how he wants it run.”
“I just hope he gets the support from behind the scenes so he can go and do that. There is clearly a lot going on, there is a lot of interference from above Geordan’s head, so hopefully he will be given the opportunity, hopefully he will be given free reign to do what he thinks is right because he understands the game very well and he is a good man.”
“I have spoken to him briefly and messaged him just wishing him good luck and basically that – be your own man and run it how you want it to be run, because as I well know – you’ll get the blame whether it is your decision or someone else’s around how things are done, you’ll always take the consequences, you’re the man in charge.”
Cockerill is now into his second season with Edinburgh Rugby, in his first campaign the Scottish side had their highest league finish and points total, also making it into the Champions Cup on merit. They just missed out on a PRO14 semi-final, losing 20-16 in a playoff against Munster at Thomand Park. Cockerill admits it’s been cathartic after how it ended with Leicester.
“Yeah it was a good experience for me. A lot of people have asked why Edinburgh, why weren’t you looking for a bigger team and look they came at the right moment and the timing was good for them and it was good for me. It is a very different project from a management and coaching point of view, develop a side from a pretty low base, whereas Leicester and Toulon have different bases and different expectations.”
Cockerill says he found a “lethargic” club when he arrived at Edinburgh, but he’s not been afraid to shake things up.
“When you have a club that has some good players and has been a little bit lethargic over the last few years, you’ve just got to make change and to make change you have to make tough decisions and people have to leave and you have to make decisions that potentially people don’t like because ‘we’ve always done it like this, so we’re going to continue like this’. No, we are going to change this, because it doesn’t work.
“People don’t like change, because they are in their jobs and they are getting paid and they are comfortable and they are still getting paid and we’re still not winning. So we have to make change.
“For me that is part of the experience, I’ve not had to do it before. I think I am a strong enough character to make change and make tough decisions and I think I am better for it, better for doing it and I will be better wherever I go next in the next 15 years of my coaching career to have this experience of building a team. But yeah we’ve got over some challenges and we are still not as good as I’d like us to be and there will be more challenges to come.”
Having put his “life and soul” into Leicester Tigers, Cockerill’s attentions are firmly now on Edinburgh, his Scottish adventure has been fruitful for both sides, so much so that he signed a contract extension in April to take him to 2021. It’s that kind of continuity that has been missing in the East Midlands for a while.
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Comments on RugbyPass
Omg… you are bruised And battered Benny. Stop crying … the scoreboard speaks. What a pathetic lover you are.. 🤣🤣🤣
127 Go to commentsPacific Lions, cry me a river
127 Go to commentsThis is the single worst piece of journalism I have ever seen since your last one. As a neutral, who really states that there should be an asterisk next to a win? You are an utter embarrassment to real AB fans, journalism and that joke of a house which pays you for this nonsense. Get a life, Ben.
127 Go to commentsGuys. Cancel the World Cup champions after this analysis. It changes everything. Ben knows. We’ll have to unengrave the Bokke off the trophy and hand it to the ABs, now that I’ve been enlightened about this illegitimate win. This needs to be done. Now!
127 Go to commentsBen is right here though, Springboks were woefully poor with the advantage they had throughout this game. The France match was heroic because that was an even contest this match had it taken place in Rugby Championship would have been an easy win for NZ. If anything this match should tell the Bok coaches that a lot of this team should be changed. They beat this same NZ team by record margin with the same circumstances but with a different core. They bring back the tried and tested guys and they nearly botch this game.
127 Go to commentsI knew who wrote this article from the first few words in the headline…lol. The red card actually did the ABs a favour. It galvanized them, only then did they step up a gear. Before that there was zero momentum.
127 Go to commentsFirstly the foul on Bongi was a planned move just like the NZ master plan with Bryce Lawrence you kiwis are filthy fux perhaps try to play a cleaner game next time I doubt that’s possible tho but don’t worry world rugby is on yr side they trying to take away all the BOKS strengths to help all you weakling as Jeremy Clarkson would say LA OO ZA ERR..🤣
127 Go to commentsAbsolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
127 Go to commentsHo hum.
127 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
127 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
127 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
127 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
1 Go to commentsGotta love it when kids throw their toys out the pram and can’t hack it with the grown ups debate. Here’s looking at you turlough! 😉🤣
148 Go to commentsThey lost the game period move on
127 Go to commentsSpringboks won! Stop winging. You can change the game however much you and your rugby colonizing IRB want to and the Springboks will win you at that too. Your mind is colonized my friend get a life
127 Go to commentsBen, nobody gets fooled anymore by selective and biased data to support an hypothesis. Games are decided on such small margins these days that you win some and lose some, and dominance is a thing of the rugby past. Look at the RWC circle of fortune…. Ireland beats SA who beat France who beat NZ who beat Ireland. And so it goes on. Match officials help to eliminate real indiscretions. If they had been with us years before, no doubt results would have been different. Remember Andy Haden’s dive from a lineout in 1978 for which a match-wining penalty was awarded? Wales should have beaten the ABs that day. They took the loss like the gentlemen they were.
127 Go to commentsWith all the analysis and how good the all blacks were.The fundamental mistake with the ABs is that this is a test match and not an exhibition.There is no better team(country) in world rugby than the Boks that knows how to win a test match(we are post masters at this).We know our rules, we have the discipline, we tackle like beasts, we take our points and we never give up.I now have educated the ABs supporters(at least say thank you).Please stop “bitching” , accept what the outcome is and move along swiftly.
127 Go to commentsAnd they came from behind to win two big games before the final. No one can say what would have happened. Had the boks gone behind the game plan changes and the result may changes. Ifs and ands are irrelevant. The boks won. Neutral critics enjoyed the games they played. Its not a popularity contest. Get over it and move on.
127 Go to comments