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Fit-again Anthony Watson evokes bad memories for coach Michael Cheika

By PA
Anthony Watson of Leicester warms up ahead of the Gallagher Premiership Rugby match between Bristol Bears and Leicester Tigers at Ashton Gate on December 03, 2022 in Bristol, England. (Photo by Ben Hoskins/Getty Images)

England wing Anthony Watson could return to the Leicester starting line-up for Sunday’s Gallagher Premiership clash against his former club Bath.

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Watson has won more than 50 caps for his country, but also endured some torrid times through injuries.

He missed the 2023 World Cup in France due to a calf muscle problem, while he was restricted to just two Leicester appearances last season.

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Tigers head coach Michael Cheika has confirmed that Watson is available for what will be his first Gallagher Premiership home game in charge.

“I have not been across what has happened to him recently, but he’s been pretty good in pre-season around his availability,” Cheika said.

Fixture
Gallagher Premiership
Leicester
09:00
29 Sep 24
Bath
All Stats and Data

“He’s had a few little setbacks, but has done most things. He had a setback towards the end (of pre-season), which is why he wasn’t available for the first game (against Exeter), but it’s good to see he is available now.

“I don’t know too much about his journey with injuries. I just remember him carving us up when I was coaching Australia.

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“We were talking about the 2015 World Cup, when he scored the try down the right.

“It’s one of the rare times I thought in a game ‘we are in a bit of trouble here’. It was a brilliant try, the crowd went crazy, and when you are the opposition team away from home there is a bit of a wave coming.”

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With exactly one year to go until Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025 kicks off in Sunderland, excitement is sweeping across the host nation in anticipation of what will be the biggest and most accessible celebration of women’s rugby ever. Register now for the ticket presale.

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Poorfour 29 minutes ago
Why aren't New Zealand's mighty teams scoring like they used to?

I'm surprised to read that about France, because their international team is so competitive. On the other hand, Elite 1 has been running for over 50 years, so the amateur game is deeply rooted (and I would not be surprised to learn that many of their key players have rugby-related jobs for the local pro men's team).


But I am not so sure I'd be keen to rip up the rule book. While there is a way to go to have a sustainable game, the international game has a good competitive structure in the regional competitions and WXV1, and the English PWR league is growing rapidly. Both of those have been revised in the last couple of years with a view to having a model that can build to sustainable full professionalism within the next decade.


RWC2025 will be critical to that. The choice of venues has been selected to maximise the reach of who can attend, and the aim of selling out the Allianz (and setting a world record) for the Bronze & Final double header. They are off to a good start - apparently all 55,000 pre-sale tickets for the opening and closing games have already been sold.


Key for the global game (with so many international players playing pro rugby in England) is to use the build up and tournament to grow interest in the club game, and then follow through by encouraging people to come and watch the playuers they saw on the global stage.


WR and the RFU are very committed to making this work - not least because the women's pro game can leverage the infrastructure for the men's game, meaning it should be able to get to profitability much faster. Given the men's game is constrained in how far and fast it can grow by the number of games the players can play, that's critical to the success of the game as a whole.

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