The biggest game in Leicester's history…not yet but it's coming - Andy Goode
Friday night’s game up in Newcastle is not the biggest game in Leicester’s history as some have said but if their Premiership status is on the line when they face their old rivals Bath on the final day of the season, that definitely will be.
This weekend’s match at Kingston Park is huge and the pressure on the players and coaching staff at Tigers ahead of it is enormous but even if they lose, they have home fixtures against Bristol and Bath to come so it isn’t up there with the many Premiership and European Cup finals they’ve been involved in over the past couple of decades.
The idea of Leicester Tigers being relegated from the top flight would have been unthinkable to probably everyone involved in rugby from fans to players to those running the sport until very recently but it is dangerously close to becoming a reality.
I said at the start of the season that they have a mid-table squad and other clubs have left them behind and are looking back at them in their rear-view mirror but I didn’t foresee them having to scrap this much to avoid the dreaded drop.
The fact that there were changes in the coaching setup after the start of the season and then the “interim” word was used haven’t helped but there’s no doubt that they’re in this position because of poor recruitment and bad management off the field.
I know he’s a mate of mine but I feel desperately sorry for Geordan Murphy because he’s being judged on what’s happening on the field right now when he’s had to pick up the pieces and work with the results of other people’s decisions.
Where Leicester are right now is a product of what’s gone on in boardrooms and meeting rooms for the last four or five years.
You only have to look at the job Richard Cockerill is doing at Edinburgh now for a very blatant example of one of the questionable decisions. That may be unfair because his voice might have become a bit stale after being there for so long but a lot of good people have left the club.
Saturday’s result at Welford Road was another low ebb as they conceded more points than they have in any other game for over 30 years since the 1987/88 season and the confidence does look shot but their fate is still very much in their own hands.
When you’ve won just three of your last 20 games in all competitions over a period of almost six months, it can be hard to see the wood from the trees in terms of how exactly you’re going to get out of the rut but they need to close ranks and fight for one another.
It wasn’t a very auspicious start to Mike Ford’s time there as a consultant at the weekend and the heavy defeat obviously wasn’t down to him but I’m just not sure he’s the right man to be going in there at the moment.
George Ford has been quoted as saying that his dad should bring some more clarity on how they’re going to play but as the fly half he needs to be demanding clarity from the coaches and bossing things during the week in training as well as on game day.
He’ll have the ultimate chance to show that he’s doing that at Kingston Park on Friday night but Newcastle will be equally desperate and they have the opportunity to move off the bottom and draw level on points with Leicester.
Ford may have to step up in more ways than one as well with his fellow England halfback Ben Youngs out for the season with a shoulder injury and captain Tom Youngs potentially missing through suspension as well after his red card against Exeter.
Players like Tom who care so deeply and have the club’s DNA running through their veins will be pivotal if Leicester are going to get out of the mess that they’re in and he could be a huge loss.
Northampton and Quins both thought they were too good to go down when it happened to them but the reality is that no club is too big or too good to fall from grace. I’m desperate for Leicester to stay up but they don’t have a divine right to.
If you look at the form books and take into account home advantage as well, you have to say that Newcastle are favourites to beat them this weekend so it might even get worse before it gets better.
However, I still believe they’ll stay up because having the points on the board is what you want at this stage of the season and two of their last three games are at home so their destiny is very much in their own hands.
It may well come down to that last game of the season at Welford Road against Bath and if it does, that will without a shadow of a doubt be the biggest game in the club’s history for me.
There is a massive rivalry between the pair after they dominated the English club game during the 1980s and 1990s and a lot of Bath fans would love nothing more than to send their old foe down to the Championship.
The average Leicester fan has been following them for 20 or 30 years and if they aren’t safe by that game on May 18th, there will be so much emotion involved.
The players will tell you Friday’s match isn’t the biggest in the club’s history and they’re right because they’ll have a second chance if they lose but it’s still right up there and the biggest of them all might just be on its way next month.
Comments on RugbyPass
Brett, from my distant perspective, I hope you get to keep the Rebels. Any ideas of teams from Japan or Argentina are just crazy. Won’t happen. If you look at logistics, it is much easier to get to LA from Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney than to Buenos Aires. All with direct non-stop daily flights. You may even get some “gringos” to watch the games, with some younger players compared to Giteau and Nonu who still “play” in the area. I think it is virtually impossible to get a competitive Argie team for SR. All Pumas are in Europe, almost all second tier players are also in Europe. Fringe players are in South American pro rugby tournament (and many still in the MLR!) but these players who might be most interested in joining a new Jaguares do not have the skills to compete. As I have been saying since the Jaguares joined, they should have had TWO teams to make logistics for visiting teams better and Argie player development improved as well. Jaguares/Pumas was not ideal. But this is where Pichot and his cronies did not think long enough. Further the country with he new president “No hay Plata” Milei is in a very difficult situation. Galperin, the richest man in Argentina owns the Miami franchise of MLR. I don’t think you can get him to invest in Argentina. Actually, he played rugby himself. He was a fly half. He is worth around $6 billion!
1 Go to commentsWell done Baby Boks we will take the Draw. No 9 senseless long passes in those conditions. let’s move on and hope for some good weather
4 Go to commentsHow did it end a draw. South Africa didn’t score any points as far as I can see
4 Go to commentsNo doubt this will be a fantastic occasion and I plan to be there, but I think the bean counters have won out over the rugby brains. In my opinion, it is foolhardy to give the Black Ferns the experience of playing in front of 60,000+ at Twickenham a year before they might be playing there in a World Cup Final. Better to play France at Twickenham and Black Ferns at Kingsholm. The difference in takings would be miniscule.
1 Go to commentsDom kant
193 Go to commentsBen is a little incel desperately trying to stir the pot and stay relevant. We used to get mad at his articles. Now we just feel sorry for him
193 Go to commentsPerhaps we may need to put an asterisk on NZ’s ‘87 WC win since the Boks weren’t there. You know, just as a reminder. Poor Ben Smith. Go cry somewhere else.
193 Go to commentsNz should have won. I didn't watch the game, but the ref was at fault and the bounce of the ball and the Bokke used the Bomb squad and the Bokke slow the game down and the Bokke scrum. They should remove the scrum. The Bokke are to strong. Not fair. Nz should have won
3 Go to commentsThanks for a much more balanced piece Ned and not that BS that Bin Smuth just posted a short while ago. read this article and then Bin Smuth’s and tell me there isn’t a huge difference🙄
3 Go to commentsWere the Baby Boks part of this game or did the Baby Blacks play themselves?🤔 That man Bin Smuth once again does a little write-up on the game and it is like 95% about the Baby Blacks🤣 Glad he ends off with the Baby Blacks were actually in cruise control for most of the game and weren’t actually playing for the win WTF🤣🤣 Maybe he was expecting the Baby Blacks to run rampant….
4 Go to commentsOne does not expect anything more from Ben Smith who epitomises the worst of New Zealand media arrogance and an inability to balance what he has to say about any team that beats the All Blacks. His reference to context is pathetically thin. He does not comment that Frizell deserved a red card given his blatant manipulation of his body to ensure that he could drop his body weight onto Mbonambi’s lower leg. No mention of the ball lost forward before the All Black’s try (lost in-field of the 5 metre line and gathered beyond). The All Black commitment and effort was superb and there was little in it. Given the Springbok passage to the final and the loss of their hooker in the first three minutes, their resolve and capacity to win their fourth final out of eight attempts (not three out of ten) deserves the praise that has been forthcoming from media around the world, worth reading and listening to. Ben should join his “pundit” friends on TV - he would fit in well. This sort of article reduces any credibility Rugby Pass has ever had. Why persist with this sort of nonsense? The man does his country and a rugby blog a disservice.
193 Go to commentsEtzebeth went on to say: “I would never dream of saying that systems stay in place following a change in captain. To say that would be deeply, deeply, disrespectful of Siya. A while back an Irish person told me they would be fine without Sexton, so I’m just responding to that.”
3 Go to commentsClose games are what we want to see…. What a match it was…. I am sure that everyone was drained by the end of it. The reality of it all there has to be a winner and a loser. The fact that we still talking about it is almost 6 months to the day Rugby is the winner.. Asante sana… Here is to 2027 and what it will bring out.
193 Go to commentsIt’s going to be a good game. COYQ
1 Go to comments“Shock”, the guy was casually saying he was just slightly surprised. Nowadays if you say anything it gets taken completely out of context. Calm down everyone.
156 Go to commentsAll I can say after reading this bitter, sour, sad piece is… Thank you very much! This will be read in the change room just before kick off on 31 August…
193 Go to commentsLook, we know contradicting opinions and wacky comments bring readers and clicks, so well done to RP for allowing always-wrong-Ben to say something here. However RP needs to put a disclaimer next to his comments for their own credibility. NZ was and is incapable of acknowledging their opp beating them. They refused so with Ire and with Arg in 2022 and also the Boks in 2023 x 2. Nothing Ben says here holds water, NZ attacked backwards, except when Kolisi and Kolbe was off And cyncialy took out Bongi, we played without lineouts for 75mins. Kolisi and Kurt-Lee almost scored twice. Thats 3 vs 2 for Boks, but the Boks opportunities was legal. Boks should have been 16-3 up by half time. Tacticaly the Boks attacked better defended better scrummed better (without a hooker) kicked better and crossed the whitewash more times. Boks beat Fr Eng Nz to win in 23, comeon give some credit at least. Even Federer Verstappen NY Mets, Mamoa, was able to see a great human sport achievement by the Boks and their DNA Boks #RWC27 !🏉
193 Go to commentsForget the 85kg bit, that can become something else. However I do like the one off test on ANZAC day idea. SR plays Fri/ Sat, test players travel Sunday and the squads have the full week together before playing Saturday. Rest of SR has a week off. Either involve women's teams in same location or in the other country and rotate annually. Herbert is right in that change is needed.
3 Go to commentsI’ve read loads of nonsense before but this article takes the cake. Or perhaps someone changed the date for April Fool's Day.
3 Go to commentsReally Rugbypass? Ben Smith I think you forgot what the Springboks did to the All Blacks at Twickenham 8 weeks earlier? Springboks 35 All Blacks 7. There is alot of ifs and buts in your article. The All Blacks threw the sink at the Springboks and unfortunately they were not good enough regardless if they played with 14 men or not. It was the Springboks who forced the All Blacks to make mistakes! Sorry but not Sorry the Springboks is the best ever Rugby World Cup Nation in the world. 4 Cups baby!
193 Go to comments