Five major reasons why Leicester are champions of England again
Olden golden despite ‘youth warning’
We’re frequently told how rugby is increasingly becoming a younger man’s game. Leicester, for instance, had two starting 21-year-olds in Freddie Steward and Ollie Chessum, but Tigers also demonstrated in the Premiership at Twickenham that olden is still very much golden. You had 39-year-old Richard Wigglesworth industrious as the starting nine, the 35-year-old Chris Ashton providing energy on the wing, another 35-year-old in tighthead Dan Cole, and a pair of sub 32-year-olds bringing home the victory in replacement half-backs Freddie Burns and Ben Youngs.
And yet, the future, according to Steve Borthwick, is youthful. “There’s a lot of growth in this team,” he cautioned post-game. “The average age is 25 years old through the season. There is almost a 15 you can pick that is 21 years old, 22, somewhere around there. There is a lot of growth in those players because they are really keen and want to get better.”
Maybe. Then again, one of Leicester’s major singings for their 2022/23 title defence is Jimmy Gopperth… who turns 39 in ten days’ time.
From calling in the cops to glory
One takeaway from Twickenham is that when it came to garnering support from the neutrals in attendance in the bumper crowd, Leicester was the clear beneficiary. There is just something about Saracens that limits their support base, that they very much remain an acquired taste despite their fine achievement in making a top-flight final just twelve months after finishing their punishment year in the Championship.
Amid the raucous outpouring of Leicester joy, though, and there was plenty as their excellent supporters generated a cracking atmosphere throughout the match, it shouldn’t be forgotten that even the famed Tigers’ support can have its fickle element.
It was just three years ago when the club had to call in the cops to tackle the avalanche of social media abuse that materialised when Tigers faced the first of their two consecutive eleventh-place Premiership finishes, Tom Youngs at the time insisting: “No family members are deserving of being pulled into that criticism and nothing of the sort myself and players have received in recent weeks is appropriate, ever.”
We saw the exact opposite Saturday, team and fans tellingly united as one and then everyone teary-eyed when the recently tragically bereaved Youngs emerged to help with the trophy lift. It was a poignant reminder of just how the game in England is generally so much better off with a strong and prosperous Leicester. When they do things correctly they are a classy bunch.
Not protecting ball well enough
Ball protection is a must on big rugby days and if there was a statistic that highlighted why Saracens weren’t winners, it was their concession of a whopping 17 turnovers, a very un-Saracens like weakness, compared to just seven from Leicester. It wasn’t just one London club player having a ‘mare, it was a wounding malaise across their team as nine of their starting XV had a TC attributed to them.
Half-back was their greatest spoilsport area. Whereas the four Leicester half-backs – the starting Wigglesworth and George Ford, and the backup Youngs and Burns – were clean in this aspect of the game, Owen Farrell conceded three turnovers, Davies two and sub scrum-half Ivan van Zyl one for a total of six cough-ups by the Sarries half-backs. That inaccuracy was costly.
The stats according to Billy
Out-of-favour England No8 Billy Vunipola is a marmite character – fans either like or dislike him with no in-between. He was immense on the ball in the Premiership final, his stats jumping off the chart. He was credited with 107 metres off 24 carries, advancement for Saracens that included eleven passes, one clear break six defenders beaten and four offloads. On paper, he eclipsed his opposite number, Jasper Wiese, by a country mile in these areas because the South African managed just 18 metres from a dozen carries, four passes and three defenders beaten.
And yet, despite that major disparity, it was the gap-toothed Wiese who was awarded the official man of the match. What gave? Simply put, the Leicester forward scored a crucial try whereas Vunipola didn’t and the Saracen also conceded two turnovers. Then there were their respective defensive numbers. Wiese was credited with ten tackles and perfect discipline while Vunipola made six and had a penalty given against him for playing the nine.
One viewer who would have delighted in Wiese getting the post-game recognition was Jan McGinity, the former Leicester recruitment tzar who was responsible for bringing the No8 to the Premiership. “He was quite unknown and under the radar,” he said to RugbyPass in January.
“We signed him and he played the Bulls the following week opposite (Duane) Vermeulen and was man of the match. He did one tackle where he absolutely nailed Vermeulen and was just standing over him and I remember Steve ringing me going, ‘We have got our man! That is the type of guy I want’.”
Tale of two yellow cards
It’s curious to reflect that of the two tries (one converted), four penalty kicks and one drop goal scored in the Premiership final that Leicester ‘won’ 15-3 during the yellow card periods whereas Saracens ‘won’ 9-0 when it was a 15-versus-15 contest. Yellow cards are supposed to hurt and there was no stopping the Tigers’ pick-and-drive during the ten-minutes Saracens were minus Davies.
This type of dominance didn’t materialise, though, when the tables were numerically turned coming down the finishing straight. Rather than it being an advantage to Saracens with Matt Scott binned, Leicester became a 14-man aggressor and their movement on and off the ball in their late, decisive sweep was enthralling, something that should become a textbook illustration regarding how best to respond after someone on your team has seen yellow.
Comments on RugbyPass
late hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
4 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
24 Go to comments