If the UBB took the lead of the Top 14 this weekend, Leicester knocked out the English championship. Nine matches, nine victories, the Tigers crush the competition and will therefore appear undefeated at the Chaban-Delmas stadium.
Two years ago, the Middlands club had almost gone down and he has relived since the summer of 2020 with the arrival at the helm of Steve Borthwick, former second international line of Bath and Saracens. The manager has built a game project based on the fundamentals and in particular on a very strong conquest.
A reinforced concrete pack
Leicester is first of all a dominant pack, formidable on the ball carried with already six tries registered by hooker Nic Dolly. It is also a hinge of experience. The duo Ben Youngs – George Ford, nearly 200 selections with England, finds a second youth and feasts in the wake of its forwards. Finally, because Leicester has achieved the alchemy between its executives (Genge, Cole, Nadolo) and its young people. Like the back Freddie Stewart, 21, who made a remarkable November tour with the XV de la Rose.
– Maxppp
The Leicester team banned the word “defeat” from its vocabulary, supported in its den on Welford Road by the best public in England still valuable during the success against the Harlequins (16-14), the outgoing champion, last Sunday .
The Tigers had already released their claws last season. Not in the league where they finished sixth but in the Challenge Cup where they reached the final, beaten by a small point (18-17) by Montpellier after a hell of a showdown. Leicester is therefore not unbeatable but one of the most popular clubs in the country (ten league titles) is undeniably the top of the bill and it has all the weapons to stay there.
This season, the Tigers have won at Gloucester (26-33), the London Irish (16-21), Worcester (3-48) and Northampton (26-55). If the UBB wants to keep its invincibility at Chaban-Delmas, it will have to pull out all the stops.