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Cockerill on Leicester Tigers: 'I got the sack because they wanted to be in a better position than they were'

Richard Cockerill

Richard Cockerill believes former club Leicester Tigers have lost their way and are not too good to be relegated from the Gallagher Premiership.

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The Tigers – two-time European champions and England’s most successful club with 10 Premiership titles – would be bottom of the league had Saracens not been deducted 35 points for breaching salary cap regulations.

Leicester have a 26-point advantage over Saracens, but Cockerill expects that to be wiped out before the end of the season and says the Tigers must find the fight to avoid the drop.

“The first thing they need to do is realise where they’re at and what they need to do next,” said Cockerill, who spent nearly eight years in charge at Welford Road before being sacked in January 2017.

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RugbyPass takes a look behind the scenes at the Leicester Tigers’ player academy.

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“I’m not sure Leicester have decided where they’re at. Once you realise that you can do something about it.

“But no-one’s too good to go down. Look at Saracens historically and they will be right in the mix to survive – Leicester will need those 26 points.

“Leicester were in the relegation scrap last year and, unfortunately for them, their season has not started particularly well. They’re in the same boat as last year.”

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Cockerill, who played 250 games for Leicester between 1992 and 2002, joined the club’s coaching staff in 2004 and was promoted to head coach in 2009.

The Tigers were fifth in the Premiership when Cockerill was sacked – 15 points adrift of leaders Wasps – but the former England hooker had brought plenty of silverware to the club during his tenure.

“Sometimes you have to be careful what you wish for,” Edinburgh head coach Cockerill said at the Guinness PRO14 media day in Cardiff.

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“The blunt reality is I got the sack because they wanted to be in a better position than they were.

“I had eight years at the club as coach – we were champions three times, finalists twice and semi-finalists three times.

“We got to a European final, LV Cup and a European semi-final. If that wasn’t good enough then the people that made change need to make it better.”

Leicester visit second-placed Northampton Saints on Saturday and are set to be bolstered by the return of several of their World Cup players.

The Tigers had six in England’s original World Cup partyGeorge Ford, Manu Tuilagi, Jonny May, Ben Youngs, Dan Cole and Ellis Genge.

But Cockerill fears the squad does not have sufficient strength in depth to ward off a relegation battle.

“They’ve got good players,” Cockerill said. “You put those players back into that squad and they’re obviously a much better team.

“They shouldn’t be where they are with the quality of player they’ve got.

“But the reality is in eight weeks time they’re going to be playing Six Nations again and all those players are going to disappear.

“They’re still getting 20,000 people, even with the situation they’re in. It’s a big club with a big supporter base and big expectations.

“But time waits for no person and you can only move forward if you know where you are in the first place. You’ll have to ask the board at Leicester what their plan is.”

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Bull Shark 4 hours ago
Rassie Erasmus' Boks selection policy is becoming bizarre

To be fair, the only thing that drives engagement on this site is over the top critiques of Southern Hemisphere teams.


Or articles about people on podcasts criticizing southern hemisphere teams.


Articles regarding the Northern Hemisphere tend to be more positive than critical. I guess to also rile up kiwis and Saffers who seem to be the majority of followers in the comments section. There seems to be a whole department dedicated to Ireland’s world ranking news.


Despite being dialled into the Northern edition - I know sweet fokall about what’s going on in France.


And even less than fokall about what’s cutting in Japan - which has a fast growing, increasingly premium League competition emerging.


And let’s not talk about the pacific. Do they even play rugby Down there.


Oh and the Americas. I’ve read more articles about a young, stargazing Welshman’s foray into NFL than I have anything related to either the north and south continents of the Americas.


I will give credit that the women’s game is getting decent airtime. But for the rest and the above; it’s just pathetic coming from a World Rugby website.


Just consider the innovation emerging in Japan with the pedigree of coaches over there.


There’s so much good we could be reading.


Instead it’s unimaginative “critical for the sake of feigning controversial”. Which is lazy, because in order to pull that off all you need to be really good at is:


1. Being a doos;

2. Having an opinion.


No prior experience needed.


Which is not journalism. That’s like all or most of us in the comments section. People like Finn (who I believe is a RP contributor).


Anyway. Hopefully it will get better. The game is growing and the interest in the game is growing. Maybe it will attract more qualified journalists over time.

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