Northern Edition
Select Edition
Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Pollard one of five changes as Leicester look to cure away day blues

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Richard Wigglesworth has made five changes to his starting XV, including a recall for Springboks World Cup winner Handre Pollard, as Leicester go in search of a first away win under their new head coach following successive heavy losses on the road at Sale and Newcastle. Having last month succeeded new England boss Steve Borthwick as the main man at the Tigers, the new era under their former scrum-half has struggled so far to ignite.

ADVERTISEMENT

Wigglesworth’s maiden match in charge was a come-from-behind Premiership win over Gloucester at home on Christmas Eve but Leicester have since lost their way, losing 5-40 and 26-45 in recent weeks in the north of England.

They are on their travels again this weekend, this time visiting France for their Friday night Heineken Champions Cup clash with Clermont, and Wigglesworth has opted to alter half of the pack that started last time out at the Falcons.

Video Spacer

Being Barbarians – Rugby Documentary

Our new rugby documentary follows Scott Robertson and Ronan O’Gara in a brand new saga following the Barbarians rugby team, one of the most famous sides in the world. In this clash, they take on New Zealand XV.

Video Spacer

Being Barbarians – Rugby Documentary

Our new rugby documentary follows Scott Robertson and Ronan O’Gara in a brand new saga following the Barbarians rugby team, one of the most famous sides in the world. In this clash, they take on New Zealand XV.

James Whitcombe and Joe Heyes are named at prop, with James Cronin dropping to the bench and Dan Cole missing out altogether. Cameron Henderson is promoted from the bench at lock in place of Calum Green while another of the Kingston Park subs, Sean Jansen, is at No8 in place of Hanro Liebenberg.

There is only one backline change, the inclusion of Pollard at out-half, but his naming has caused positional alterations elsewhere in the Leicester ranks.

Charlie Atkinson, last Saturday’s starting No10, has switched to full-back, forcing the move of Freddie Steward to right wing where Harry Potter drops out of the starting side to the bench. Ben Youngs captains the side in his 74th Champions Cup appearance for Leicester, equalling Geordan Murphy as the club’s most-capped player in Europe’s top tier.

Leicester (vs Clermont, Friday)
15. Charlie Atkinson [8]
14. Freddie Steward (vc) [65]
13. Matt Scott [55]
12. Dan Kelly [49]
11. Harry Simmons [27]
10. Handre Pollard [2]
9. Ben Youngs (c) [292]
1. James Whitcombe [32]
2. Charlie Clare [66]
3. Joe Heyes [112]
4. Harry Wells [169]
5. Cameron Henderson [25]
6. Ollie Chessum [41]
7. Tommy Reffell (vc) [89]
8. Sean Jansen [13]

ADVERTISEMENT

Replacements:
16. Joe Taufete’e [4]
17. James Cronin [9]
18. Will Hurd [16]
19. Olly Cracknell [12]
20. Emeka Ilione [7]
21. Jack van Poortvliet [58]
22. Jimmy Gopperth [7]
23. Harry Potter [54]

ADVERTISEMENT
LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

1 Comment
V
Vic 891 days ago

Where are Montoya and Wiese AGAIN !!!

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

N
Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson names his 35-man All Blacks squad for France series

As always with Razor slightly unorthodox with a few surprises. Last year Blackadder was rushed back into the starting 15 after a long injury lay off and no game time, this year on the back of a good body of work in which he was immense in the final he doesn’t even make the squad. But Finau, who possibly wouldn’t have even been starting for the Chiefs if Parker was fit is the only specialist 6 in the squad. Likewise Havili, great season and a great final, much better than last year by all measures but doesn’t make the cut.


6 mid fielders when 4 will do, but only 5 loosies when 7 would be useful -> Maybe Lakai and Parker come in? No 3rd choice at 10 meaning if one of BB or DMac sustain a mid to long term injury there is no one they are specifically trusting to come into the team and be able to close out matches - maybe they think Love is the 3rd best 10 in NZ?


Great to see Tavatavanawai straight in on the back of a huge season - he should 100% be in the 23. There have been players before like Stevenson or Sotutu who had the season of the their lives and didn’t get picked, so this is great and a little surprising to see.


Only 4 locks and no lock cover among the loosies named. This seems like an area we need to be developing more players rather than concentrating the talent pool down further. Maybe when Darry is fit he finds his way back in, but it would be good to see Lord or whoever the 6th best lock is around the squad too.


One thing I continue to find strange about ABs selection going back many years is that they are obsessed with backs being able to cover multiple positions, but they don’t take advantage of this in any way. The fact that we have 3 players who can play 12, and 3 that can play 13, doesn’t stop them from selecting ALB to cover 12 and 13 giving them 4 options at each position - what is the point of this? Likewise Love, I really like him, especially at 10, But they have Jordan, BB, Dmac who all play 15 at test level, as well as JB who is world class at 15 to cover, so why take up another spot in the squad with yet another 15? Why do we need four options for every position in the backs except 10, which is arguably the most important one where we have not been able to develop a new test player for 8 or 9 years.


And unless there is a big change this year they also don’t use all these utility backs to enable a 6-2 bench split, and will instead pick a specialist winger on the bench to come on and play the last 10 minutes.

62 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ A glut of Lions balances the less than rosy state of the Irish rugby garden A glut of Lions balances the less than rosy state of the Irish rugby garden
Search