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Leicester confirm Manu Tuilagi departure

By AAP
Manu Tuilagi has left Leicester Tigers.

England centre Manu Tuilagi has left Leicester Tigers, the Gallagher Premiership club have confirmed.

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Chief executive Andrea Pinchen confirmed that England stars Tuilagi and Kyle Eastmond, and also Telusa Veainu, Greg Bateman and Noel Reid have left the Welford Road club.

Leicester set their players a deadline of Tuesday evening to sign new deals on reduced terms, to reflect the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and also the upcoming salary cap reductions.

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And British and Irish Lions star Tuilagi heads the cast-list of players who refused to accept the wage cuts, and have therefore left the east Midlands club.

Tuilagi has 43 England caps and one for the Lions, and is approaching his peak at 29.

The Samoa-born centre will be able to command a sizeable contract in either France or Japan, and his Leicester team-mate Veainu will doubtless be in similar demand.

Asked to name the departing players, Pinchen told Leicester’s club website: “Our fans deserve to know: Manu Tuilagi, Telusa Veainu, Greg Bateman, Noel Reid and Kyle Eastmond.”

A Leicester statement on Wednesday morning had confirmed a “small number” of players would be leaving the Tigers.

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Asked to explain where contract negotiations broke down, Pinchen continued: “We had asked staff and players very early on, because there was no income coming in, to take a 25 per cent reduction in pay across the board.

“Everyone bought into that, the players agreed to that. Then as we find out more and more, go through the process, and look at what central funding reduction is going to happen.

“If we do play behind closed doors until January, we realised we needed to make some real big cuts, that are, let’s be honest, primarily wrapped up in players’ salaries.

“Players were asked, for season 2021 only, to take a reduction of 25 per cent, with an opportunity later down the line to claw back half of that amount, and to sign an agreement to say they wouldn’t reserve their rights. But they wouldn’t accept this.

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“Some were offered new contracts that weren’t acceptable to them, others chose to not come on board with that.”

Pinchen also confirmed Leicester have made 31 staff redundant, having suffered losses of £5million already due to the pandemic fallout.

Former England captain and coach Steve Borthwick will have endured a testing first day in his new role as Tigers head coach, with rugby director Geordan Murphy also feeling the pinch of the high-profile departures.

Wishing the departing players well for the future, Pinchen added: “There’s no blame game here, this is people we’re talking about.

“Everyone has their own circumstances, and own thoughts about what they can or can’t do, or will or won’t do.

“What’s vital now is that we have a squad that’s all on board, believes in what we’re doing moving forward, and starts to push forward.

“If some couldn’t (do that), then we wish them well, shake them by the hand, metaphorically because of Covid, and wish them well for the next chapter. It’s really no more or less sinister than that.

“It’s simply that we had to go down one path. The majority of people are going down that path with us. And a handful couldn’t.”

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Jon 7 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 9 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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A
Adrian 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

37 Go to comments
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