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The five Leicester Tigers players that could be 'stood down' over pay cut deadlock

Ellis Genge. Photo / Getty Images

Five of Leicester Tigers’ most high profile players could be ‘stood down’ from training by the club if they fail to agree new contract terms before a deadline tomorrow. The five players are refusing to take pay cuts in the form of new contracts.

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RugbyPass understands that Ellis Genge, George Ford, Manu Tuilagi, Greg Bateman and Kyle Eastmond (among others) are refusing to take pay cuts and that the Welford Road based side could be set to stand them down from training.

The Telegraph’s Charlie Morgan revealed over the weekend how as much as third of the squad at up in revolt over the new payouts. Tigers’ players have already been hit with 25 per cent reductions to their salaries, and the club are now looking to make further reductions through negotiating new contracts.

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The vast majority of the Gallagher Premiership had been driving home new pay cuts before the June 18th Premiership Rugby Ltd deadline, a date prior to which any contract will be considered current and thus able to be counted at just 75 per cent for the purpose of the new £5 million salary cap.

The Telegraph report that many Leicester Tigers players missed that crucial deadline, and the club have now set their own deadline of July 2nd for the outstanding players to sign new contracts,  a day before Steve Borthwick officially starts work as the Premiership side’s new head coach.

Genge and Bateman, who attempted to launch a new players union – the Rugby Players Epoch (RPE) – an alternative to the Rugby Players Association (RPA), have been vocal in their opposition to the power wielded by Premiership clubs when negotiating with players.

Yesterday Genge tweeted in reply to fellow England prop Joe Marler that: “when you’re one of the many pigeons that flock around and play you have to adhere to the rules or you will be punished! These boys can do as they f***ing want though, don’t argue with them mind or you’ll be abolished.”

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Leicester Tigers, who failed to sell the business earlier this year, have been harder hit than most in the current climate and are understandably eager to lower their wage bill.

All 13 clubs voted for a major overhaul of the current salary cap system off the back of Lord Myners’ review into the cap following the Saracens scandal, but significant pressure was put on players by their clubs in a race to complete contract before June 18th, adding to an already tense employee/employer dynamic.

The RPA’s Damian Hopley told RugbyPass earlier this month that: “The RPA have raised significant concerns about the artificially manufactured deadline day that players had to sign by last week, announced publicly just one week before the deadline.

“This put untold pressure on players to agree new contracts in a matter of a few days. We do not consider this to be reasonable and appropriate employment practise and a number of players and their representatives have voiced their disquiet about how this has played out over such a short period of time.”

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'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

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