Steve Borthwick's 'inspired' Welford Road speech outlines vision for Leicester revival
No sooner did Steve Borthwick arrive as the new Leicester coach did the former England assistant pack his squad off to Welford Road where he delivered an inspirational speech which he hopes will see the Tigers reverse their declining fortunes when the Gallagher Premiership restarts next month.
Leicester finished the 2018/19 season in eleventh – the position one of the great names of English rugby still currently holds amid the suspension of the 2019/20 season. They would be in danger of relegation if Saracens had not been automatically dumped at the bottom of the Premiership following their points penalty and fine for breaching the salary cap regulations.
Borthwick has taken over a Leicester squad that has seen 26 players depart, including the England pair of Jonny May and Manu Tuilagi, while a pay row attracted plenty of negative headlines.
Against the backdrop of this damaging upheaval, Borthwick is bidding to restore former glories and decided to take the squad to Welford Road shortly after taking over to provide a stage for an emotive speech.
The former England captain, who was Eddie Jones’ right-hand man at two World Cups, explained: “The decision to go to the stadium was a very simple one because Welford Road is a special place. I know that from being there many times as an opposition player and it is important to recognise that.
There were some social media comments relating to the pronunciation of Kini Murimurivalu's namehttps://t.co/4RBzwKFesi
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) July 28, 2020
“It is the home of this club and the key messages were along those lines. The people of Leicester may not be able at the moment to watch us live and the team makes them proud. They want the team on the field to represent them as they want.
“I don’t look back a huge amount and players made decisions and we wish those players well and we recruit and work with the players here and I am really enjoying doing that.”
Luke Wallace was one of the new arrivals at Leicester who was sat in the stand at Welford Road listening to Borthwick’s speech. The long-haired flanker played 169 times for Harlequins before he was released, joining Coventry in the Championship last season.
The club train on a regular basis with Leicester which allowed Wallace to chance to impress Tigers and show he could still offer something in the Premiership. He said: “Steve’s arrival is similar to the impact Paul Gustard made at Harlequins and the whole energy around the building changed for me.
“The first week with Steve we had a meeting in the stands at Welford Road and he gave a really inspirational speech. We spoke about the DNA of Leicester and taking the good from that and adding a new DNA. We talked about Leicester being a working-class town and they expected us to work hard and we have been putting in the work.
“I played at Welford Road a lot and Quins normally did turn up – it was an amazing crowd and you knew it would be a tough match. It is all about the fine margins and things can be changed. Hopefully, we will see that when game time is back. Steve is a very positive coach and expects hard work every session.”
"It seemed that certain young black kids in teams I was playing in were not given the chance to be a decision-maker – one of the intelligent positions”
– @ZackHenry10 tells @chrisjonespress his hopes and dreams now he has joined @leicestertigers ??? https://t.co/k5rihMMSLQ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) July 22, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
What a sad way to end a glittering career. Somebody should tell him to delete his social media accounts and face the consequences of what he's done. Then he should slip away quietly into obscurity. This isn't likely to happen, something tells me he'll be back in The Sun / Daily Mail sooner rather than later.
2 Go to commentsguys its fine! he understands why he did what he did and has taken accountability for it; why should he have to be accountable to a court? after all he did was abuse people in person - its not as if he was engaging in _online_ abuse!
2 Go to commentsChiefs flanker Kaylum Boshier yellow-carded for collapsing the scrum as it rolled towards the line. It was a maul….
1 Go to commentsyou know, i’m a leinster fan so I want Northampton to lose and it is gonna be tuff with Cortney lawes, Alex michell and the other guys🏉 lets go leinster🏉
1 Go to commentsWelcome to the Pro ranks. Those hard teams of old do hit the sole better though. its a dog fight at the top.
6 Go to commentsCan someone fill me in please, I've read a number of Ben Smith articles now and it seems he's got something again South Africa? Surely, this game was over and done with 7 months ago. Can't we have something a bit more interesting and relevant, or is this the calibre of journalist on this site?
227 Go to commentsNot sure what the Welsh are moaning about. They’ve had far more players off England, than England have had off Wales. Guys like Josh Hathaway and Kane James will play for Wales in the end. And they’ll be fsr better players for having played in the Gallagher Premiership, than they ever would have been had they stayed mired in the shambles that is Welsh rugby.
3 Go to commentsThis is all being blown totally out of proportion. First of all, since half the Irish team isn’t Irish - it’s very likely that none of the Irish players said that at all and, thus, we’re not being arrogant. Second, since half the Irish team is Kiwi - it’s very likely the Kiwi players were predicting a NZ SA World Cup final. Which they got spot on. Good on them!
163 Go to commentsAha. An Irishman with logic! Follow the flow: - Ireland peaks with a >80% win record between 2020 and 2023. And then… - crashes out of another QF at the WC; - Beat a poor French Team; - Beat 6N wooden spoonists Italy; - Play shite against eventual wooden spoonists Wales; - Lose against the most boring, “the worst English team ever” , a team widely regarded as unable to attack; - scrape through against Scotland. This article, No - Trimble, is on the money! Except for one glaring statement: _The Springboks have a few aces in the hole in this debate being the reigning world champions and official world number ones_ There is no debate, boys and girls. There it is. In black and white. “Reigning World Champions and OFFICIAL world number ones”. Come July, the overrated Andy Farrell and this overhyped team are going to enter into a world of hurt.
86 Go to commentsI’d like to know what homoerotic events Daniel enjoyed at 8th man. I clearly missed out!
19 Go to commentsThis article is missing some detail, like some actual context or info about what led to him abusing the ref.
2 Go to comments*They used to say that football is a gentleman sport watched by hooligans and rugby is a hooligan sport watched by gentlemen. How times have changed.*
3 Go to commentsexcept ot wasnt late wasnt late at all so dont know why you all saying its late he commits early and its your fault fir not paying attention
30 Go to commentsNot sure the Bulls need another average utility back in their ranks. Chamberlain has been ok for the Sharks but is by no means an X-Factor player. Bulls bought several utility backs which they barely use. A typical example would be Henry Immelman who plays mostly Fullback. The Bulls however have rarely played him this year and he has played wing or centre. Bulls want to build depth but seems like they have too many surplus players
1 Go to commentsABs lost against a side playing without a hooker - The guy playing, had one shoulder. Line outs were a gimme for the ABs, and the last 8 minutes 14 played 14 against a team that had been smashed 3 weeks in a row… Yet with all that possession, with all that territory, with all the advantages they actually had, especially in the last 8 minutes, they couldn’t buy a point. Those last 8 minutes determined if they outplayed the Boks or not. History will show that the Boks completely outplayed the ABs, especially in those last 8 minutes, the business end of any rugby match
227 Go to commentsWould’ve, could’ve, should’ve, didn’t.
227 Go to commentsKok will become a fan favourite
1 Go to commentsI am really looking forward to Leigh Halfpenny playing his first Super rugby game for the Crusaders Playing a long side his former Welsh and Scarlets team mate Johnny McNicoll.Johnny has been playing great, back in a Crusaders jersey.The attack has strengthened big time. Also looking forward to David Havili at 10. David is a class act, it also allows Dallas McLeod to remain at 12. A good thing.
1 Go to commentsIf he had stopped insisting on playing in the backrow, instead of wing, where everyone told him he should, he would have been a Bok years ago….
11 Go to comments‘Salads don’t win scrums’ 😂 I love that.
19 Go to comments