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The Guardian
3 days ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
Inspired Perese try edges Leicester past Sale and into Premiership final
And so it is the two grand old clubs of English rugby. Leicester will face off against Bath at Twickenham next Saturday – and the rest of us will have to check which century we are in. Leicester, admittedly, have featured far more among the honours this millennium, which is to say at all, than their arch rivals from the West Country, who so dominated the 1980s and 1990s. But neither team, if you asked their hoariest old warriors, could pick a foe they would rather lock horns with on a no-doubt sunny afternoon at HQ. This was a darker and more swirling affair at Welford Road. The Tigers seemed to have Sale in their pockets for half the match, but the visitors rallied midway through the second to level the scores with only 15 to play. Their tails seemed up. Then came a flash of brilliance – not the first of the afternoon by any means – and all that darkness was pierced by a try fit to win a semi-final. The final minutes played out to Leicester's beefiest squeezing out Manchester's, as English rugby's largest support bellowed them on. So familiar. Neither of these two are known for their lightness of touch. Nor did they flourish any of it for much of the match, but let it be noted that the decisive breakthroughs owed everything to brilliance. Welford Road bade farewell to some of Leicester's greatest servants, Dan Cole, Ben Youngs and captain Julián Montoya playing their last matches at the old place, but it was the newbies who won the match. Sign up to The Breakdown The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewed after newsletter promotion Adam Radwan's two first half tries, his 10th and 11th in 10 matches, since his arrival midseason from Newcastle, were taken with stunning audacity, to earn Leicester a 10-point lead at the break. Then, come the hour, or at least the 68th minute, Izaia Perese, the Wallaby whose season has been so disrupted by injury, broke the newly imposed deadlock by bursting on to a pass from 40 metres out and skinning the Sale defence to seize the keys to Twickenham. Sale, whose lightness tends to be supplied by George Ford, a previous champion with Leicester, had worked their way back into the match with a pair of penalties by the old maestro, either side of a try by Rob du Preez, put over by sweet interplay between the Curry twins and Ford again. Du Preez has played every single minute of Sale's Premiership campaign. How worthy a finalist he would have proven, but almost as soon as Ford's third penalty of the match had levelled the scores at 16-16, Perese relit the fires of Welford Road. Sale pressed in the final knockings, having survived another siege, as the minutes ticked away. Luke Cowan-Dickie charged down the left touchline, but he spilled the ball in a tackle by Freddie Steward with the clock deep in the red. Leicester, fans and players alike, went beserk, but there was one last twist of drama to be endured. Steward's head had collided with Cowan-Dickie's in the tackle that dislodged the ball. One last séance by TMO was required. It was decided that Steward, who was virtually prone on the floor when the tackle was made, could not conceivably have gone any lower. His arms were up in an attempt to make the tackle. But not as up as everybody else's after referee Matt Carley waved his to confirm once and for all the end of the match. Some heroes of yore had the send-off they craved. But there is one last battle to come.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
Leicester v Sale: Premiership rugby union semi-final
Update: Date: 2025-06-07T13:36:06.000Z Title: How do you see Content: this one unfolding then readers? Drop me an email via the link at the top of the page. Update: Date: 2025-06-07T13:30:06.000Z Title: Preamble Content: We've seen this episode before. Back in 2023 Goerge Ford was described by Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson as 'a pocket of calm amid the chaos', as the fly-haf guided Sale Sharks past Leicester in the Premiership semi-final. A repeat today would be another feather in the cap of a fine year for Ford, who was named in Premiership team of the season earlier this week and probably should have been in the Lions squad heading for Australia. The clash with Leicester, who feature the league's second-highest points scorer in Handré Pollard, should produce tries. Across two league games already this season 142 points were shared, with one win apiece. The most recent of those was won last month by Leicester at Welford Road, where today's game is taking place, a factor that perhaps tips the scales in the Tigers' favour. Should they lose, this will be Ben Youngs and Dan Cole's final matches for Leicester. The retiring pair start on the bench as Jack van Poortvliet and Joe Heyes come in, while Adam Radwan will play on the wing in place of Josh Bassett. Former England international Mike Brown has not been named in Leicester's matchday squad and should his team lose his last minutes as a Tiger will have been against Newcastle Falcons in the last game of the regular season. For Sale it is positive news as they have Tom Roebuck and Tom Curry both available again. The England duo missed the final game of the regular season as the Sharks beat Exeter. Bath, another of Ford's former clubs, await the winners of this tie in the final at Twickenham after the regular season table-toppers held their nerve against Bristol on Friday night. Ford has tasted defeat in a Premiership final for all three of the teams left with a possibility of winning this season's showpiece fixture and would relish the chance to run the table against two of his former employers to ensure that this time he is not the one left standing when the music stops.
BBC News
4 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Youngs on Tigers' bench as Sale recall England duo
Ben Youngs and Dan Cole will start their final Leicester Tigers match at Mattioli Woods Welford Road on the experienced duo, who will both retire at the end of the season, are among Leicester's replacements for Saturday's Premiership play-off semi-final against head coach Michael Cheika has made three changes from the side which beat Newcastle Falcons 42-20 last - looking to bow out with a sixth Premiership title with Tigers - and Cole, chasing a fifth crown, are replaced in the starting line-up by Jack van Poortvliet and Joe Heyes, while Adam Radwan will play on the wing in place of Josh have England duo Tom Roebuck and Tom Curry both available after injury forced them to miss the final game of the regular season as Sharks beat Exeter to clinch their semi-final are the only changes made by director of rugby Alex Sanderson as he tries to steer Sale to a second Premiership final in three years. Roebuck, one of four Sharks players named in the Premiership team of the season alongside Ben Curry, fly-half George Ford and centre Rob du Preez, has recovered from a calf issue and comes in on the right wing for Tom O' winger Arron Reed starts on the left and Joe Carpenter at full-back completes the back Tom Curry is restored at blindside with brother Ben on the opposite side and Jean-Luc du Preez at number will operate behind an all-England front row where props Bevan Rodd and Asher Opoku-Fordjour start either side of hooker Luke nominee Ford partners England scrum-half Raffi Quirke for the second week in a row with Rekeiti Ma'asi-White and ex-Springbok Rob du Preez, who played every minute of every Premiership game this season, in the Tigers boss Cheika brings fit-again Australian centre Izaia Perese back among the replacements as former England international Mike Brown drops out of the matchday could spell the end of Brown's professional career as he is also retiring at the end of the season. The match will also feature Leicester skipper Julian Montoya leading out the side for the final time at home ahead of his summer move to Pau. Starting line-ups Leicester: Steward, Radwan, Kata, Woodward, Hassell-Collins, Pollard, Van Poortvliet; Smith, Montoya, Hayes, Henderson, Chessum, Liebenberg, Reffell, Clare, Cronin, Cole, Rogerson, Ilione, Youngs, Volavola, Carpenter, Roebuck, Robert du Preez, Ma'asi-White, Reed, Ford, Quirke; Rodd, Cowan-Dickie, Opoku-Fordjour, Van Rhyn, Hill, Tom Curry, Ben Curry, Jean-Luc du McElroy, McIntyre, John, Bamber, Dan du Preez, Warr, James, O'Flaherty.
Telegraph
5 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
How ruthless Michael Cheika transformed Leicester in less than a season
When casting the final judgment on Leicester's performance across the regular season, the cold, hard facts are inescapable. A second-placed finish, a first home semi-final since the Tigers' last title win in 2022, 15 tries more than last season and the league's joint-top try-scorer. But, as ever with England's biggest club, the devil is in the detail. For as much as this season has been one of rare success for Leicester, it has been one of almost inexplicable wackiness, too. Think back to the sudden departure of previous head coach Dan McKellar and the swift arrival of the acclaimed Australian Michael Cheika; think back to his stadium ban after one match of the Premiership season; a hiding against Bristol at home; a complete implosion away at Toulouse. Add in the saga to find Cheika's replacement as head coach, and a yet-to-be-announced fly-half successor to Handré Pollard, and it has been nothing if not eventful at Oval Park and Mattioli Woods Welford Road. Of course, the Tigers have won nothing yet. And a club of such stature would never admit that anything other than silverware in the cabinet would rank as a success. But when you compare eighth with second, with an attendance of more than 20,000 expected at Welford Road on Saturday, it would be unfair to judge Cheika's sole season in the East Midlands as anything other than triumphant no matter the result against Sale. The Australian, from the pits of panic, has put the club back on the straight and narrow. Cheika targets slipping standards Cheika was announced as the replacement for his compatriot, McKellar, in late June last year after a season in which the Tigers finished eighth in the Premiership table. McKellar had been hamstrung by the lack of an attack coach but his services were dispensed with after Leicester's standards had slipped. According to captain Julián Montoya, it was standards and mentality which Cheika looked to address from the off. 'The relationship he has with the players, how much he cares about it,' says Montoya, who was coached by Cheika during the Australian's stint as Argentina coach between 2022 and 2023. 'His training is unbelievable. He has a lot of experience; the standards he's brought, the mentality he's brought. He is one of the best coaches in the world and we are very lucky to have been coached by him. 'But I couldn't just say one thing. He's a brilliant, world-class coach – and a brilliant guy.' Cheika himself added: 'From the very start, we needed to re-establish the way things were done – from a preparation point of view and, maybe, the expectations, I suppose.' The emphasis on standards and expectations worked, as Leicester won five of their opening six league matches under Cheika, including a dramatic last-play triumph over Exeter on the opening Premiership weekend – a win which also led to the 58-year-old receiving a ban for some verbal wrangling with the independent match-day doctor. Reffell's Winning Try (v Exeter Chiefs) — Leicester Tigers (@LeicesterTigers) October 1, 2024 It was all looking tickety-boo for Leicester under Cheika. The Australian had redeveloped a toughness and stubbornness – that indefinable quality of being difficult to beat – in his side that the Tigers had been missing since the days of Steve Borthwick and Richard Wigglesworth. Cheika was trusting his instincts and embracing the potential of youth – Joe Heyes, Jack van Poortvliet, Joe Woodward and Emeka Ilione have all either nailed down starting spots or emerged as Test-class players this season – while the addition of Peter Hewat as attack coach was proving a shrewd acquisition by the Tigers. Leicester's attacking play, at times, has been dashing; and it is no coincidence that Ollie Hassell-Collins finished as joint top try-scorer in the Premiership. But then came two sobering defeats. Bad defeats threaten to derail season The first by Bristol at home, where the Tigers shipped 54 points at Welford Road – and 40 in the first half. Less than a month later came the most chastening of all, as Leicester were obliterated 80-12 by Toulouse in the south of France. Cheika stopped short of describing that match as a turning point in the season, but there was a 'certain reckoning' about it. 'For myself, you cannot go past the Toulouse game,' Cheika said. ''All right, there are some things which I really need to attend to here.' For myself as well – as a coach. That hadn't happened to me before, so I wanted to take something from it. I made some adjustments there but it is a building process along the way, about laying down foundations which will help us when we're under the pump to get us through. 'It felt like it was something which gave me insight into things which I really needed to concentrate on in the short term.' What Cheika concentrated on was defence, with the Australian making an immediate change to his coaching team. Matt Everard, the club's popular former flanker and now head coach of newly rebooted Worcester, was replaced by David Kidwell, who coached the Pumas' defence under Cheika. The move came as a prime example of Cheika identifying something which was not to his liking and, for better or worse, acting ruthlessly to make sure it was. There was also the mid-season arrival of Newcastle flyer Adam Radwan, who has been a revelation since making his Tigers debut in January. Eight tries in eight games 🔥 Adam Radwan cannot stop scoring 💨 #GallagherPrem | #LEIvSAL — Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) May 9, 2025 Ruthless mid-season changes pay-off Cheika's changes led to a reaction from the players. No one – surely not even Cheika himself – saw the 33-0 victory at Northampton at the end of March coming. Then came the most impressive three-match stint of Cheika's tenure to date, as Leicester vanquished Bristol at Ashton Gate – avenging their December shellacking – demolished Harlequins at Welford Road, and overcame a George Ford-inspired Sale in one of the Premiership games of the season so far. There was also the public reveal of Cheika, ever the motivator, ever the savant, using a club flag as a symbolic semaphore to motivate his troops. That @LeicesterTigers mystery flag 🚩 @Sarraelgan does her best but Head Coach Michael Cheika is giving nothing away… 🤔 — Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) April 20, 2025 It worked. Leicester's purple patch meant that, come the final day and the hosting of Newcastle, the Tigers virtually had a home semi-final sewn up with a match to spare. That, allied to the announcement that former lock Geoff Parling will return to the club as head coach next season, and the probable arrival of an international fly-half, and a wave of optimism engulfed Welford Road, after a season in which the Tigers suffered one of their darkest ever on-field days. Despite the turnaround and adulation from fans, Cheika would not entertain any chatter about this season having already been a success or, even, of leaving a legacy at Welford Road. 'One year is not enough to leave any type of legacy whatsoever,' Cheika said. 'The relationships that I've been able to build between players, fans and the club has been respectful and enjoyable. 'I'd like the fans to think that I was one of them – even if it was just for one year. That's not easy because I have been the enemy here before – [from an] international and club point of view. 'The obvious is to try and win that trophy. We have to try and do every thing we can to do that – that's the best thing we can do to build the future of the club. Play well, one step at a time, this weekend – that's it, it's pretty much a final there and then.' Cheika might not believe he has done enough to earn a Leicester legacy, but two matches will be the difference between him either perhaps being proven right, or him having no choice in the matter at all.
Telegraph
13-05-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Inside the saga that finally led Leicester Tigers to Geoff Parling
The white smoke that Leicester Tigers used in their social media post to signify the imminent appointment of Geoff Parling as head coach was a self-referential nod to a process that has taken as many twists and turns as a Robert Harris novel. While far from straightforward, the conclave inside Welford Road are convinced they have a candidate ready to lead them into a new era. It is not far off a calendar year that Leicester appointed Michael Cheika as their head coach for the 2024-25 season. It was the end of June and the Tigers announced that their former boss, Dan McKellar, would be suddenly leaving the club and returning to his native Australia. Leicester announced that Cheika, McKellar's compatriot, had answered the East Midlands side's SOS, agreeing to coach England's biggest club for at least one season – but with the option of another depending on his family circumstances. When the Leicester call came, Cheika was in the thick of packing up his life in Paris along with his wife, Stephanie, and their four children. The plan was for the Cheika family to return to Sydney for the foreseeable – but the call came from the Tigers and Cheika, who had never previously coached in the Premiership, could not resist. The 58-year-old hopped over the Channel and immediately got to work, planting his flag in a hotel before moving into a cottage in a leafy Leicestershire village, and immediately earned admirers at Welford Road. This is where things became tricky for the Tigers hierarchy. Because of Cheika's family situation, a departure after one season always felt the most likely course of action but, given the way he galvanised a squad which may well finish this season with a home semi-final, the hope beyond hope was that the Australian would remain for one final term. The recruitment ball started informally rolling last October, but the powers-that-be at Mattioli Woods Welford Road were simply unable to concretise any kind of negotiation until they received clarity on Cheika's future. Finally, however, in January – on the eve of the Six Nations – they received the call they had been dreading but, deep down, knew was coming. At the end of the current season, Cheika would be returning home to his wife and children in Sydney. At that point, the hunt for a new head coach went into overdrive. There were discussions about Cheika staying on as a consultant director of rugby – Peter Hewat, Cheika's No 2, has impressed since his arrival, too – and while the attitude was very much one of 'if anyone can, then it is him', the time difference would have made regular contact and an informed ear to the ground nigh-on impossible. So, the search which had been simmering now had to be brought to the boil. General manager Richard Wilks and chief executive Andrea Pinchen are understood to have spearheaded the process alongside a few other crucial board members – but none could have predicted the twists, the turns; the saga. In the midst of all of this, as revealed by Telegraph Sport, popular defence coach Matt Everard was abruptly dispensed with, and Cheika ally David Kidwell arrived in Everard's stead. Owing to the timing of Stuart Lancaster's sacking from Racing 92, logic dictated that the former England coach would be the prime candidate for Leicester. While there was a conversation between the two parties, Lancaster fundamentally had his sights on bigger opportunities. Telegraph Sport understands that Lancaster recommended his former forwards coach, Graham Rowntree, for the role. Rowntree, Leicester's legendary former loosehead, was abruptly released by Munster at the beginning of this season despite overseeing a United Rugby Championship title in 2023 and a top-of-the-table finish before the play-offs in 2024. In a season where there have been few free agents, Rowntree was one. Felix Jones, the former England defence coach now back with the Springboks, was another, but talks never got off the ground owing to the Irishman's desire to remain in the Test game. Richard Wigglesworth, Franco Smith and Clark Laidlaw were all approached but were all under contract, so the Tigers would have had to stump up a hefty compensation package to secure any of their services, which the club were not prepared to do. Because of his availability, Rowntree was identified as a potential candidate early by Leicester. However, the recruitment process was put on ice when one coach came in at the 11th hour and impressed in interview, more than any before him. That was Paul Gustard, the former England defence coach and head coach of Top 14 strugglers Stade Français, as revealed by Telegraph Sport at the beginning of March. The rub for both Leicester and Gustard was that the latter still had one year remaining on his contract in Paris – and things at Stade Français had just started to become complicated. Coaches – and good ones, at that – were being let go left, right and centre, and the Parisian club were sliding down the table and into a relegation battle, just at the time when Gustard was hoping for a goodwill gesture from the owner, Hans-Peter Wild. Gustard and Leicester were banking on Wild, the Capri-Sun king, to agree to a release for the final year of the former's contract so that he could return to the club at which he was a gritty flanker between 1997 and 2002. The two parties came to a pre-contract agreement but the double-edged sword for Gustard was that he was incredibly highly rated by Wild. Wild wanted the Englishman to lead a rebuild at Stade Français but Gustard and his family were keen to return home. Matters came to a head in March after a home victory against Bayonne; Gustard met with Wild to formally ask for a release but one was not forthcoming. Wild put Gustard in total control of Stade Français and Gustard had to deliver the bad news to Leicester, sending the Tigers back to the drawing board. Although it was not full-blown panic stations for Leicester, there was an understanding at board level that the situation was far from desirable. Tom Scott, the club's majority shareholder, replaced longstanding chairman Peter Tom in the first of several behind-the-scenes moves. Former back Leon Lloyd, the winner of two European Cups with the Tigers, joined the board as a non-executive director and it would come as no surprise if there was not more movement before the season is out. The club is already in the process of appointing a new head of the academy and head of medical and there are likely to be further changes behind the scenes. Leicester then turned their sights to Super Rugby. As well as Laidlaw, Dave Rennie was also spoken about in circles at Welford Road. So, too, the eventual winner of the race, Parling. Finally, however, the Tigers approached Leon MacDonald, the former All Blacks back who at time of writing is a consultant coach at the Western Force. Throughout this period, Rowntree remained in the Tigers' recruitment process. Representatives met MacDonald, with the board having narrowly identified the New Zealander as the preferred candidate over Rowntree. It is understood that a scoring system was used and that MacDonald pipped Rowntree by one point. Negotiations began with MacDonald, who was briefly an assistant coach with Scott Robertson at the All Blacks before 'differing views' led to his departure, but Leicester's offer, while substantial, was turned down in favour of either Yokohama Canon Eagles in Japan or Reds, the Australian Super Rugby franchise. Telegraph Sport exclusively revealed earlier this month that MacDonald had turned down the Tigers which left Rowntree as the front-runner by default, unless there was another rabbit to be pulled out of the Tigers' hat. That rabbit was Parling, who had been hidden up Tigers' sleeve from the start. In common with most clubs, Leicester have a spreadsheet of nearly 100 potential coaches. Once a longlist had been established of around 20 coaches, with input from Matt Egan, the club's head of analysis, and Fintan Kennedy, the finance director, the process of whittling down available candidates began and those, like Smith, for whom compensation would have been deemed prohibitive. Those available candidates were then assessed by a series of metrics, from experience of the Premiership to a recognition of whether they would fit the club's own Key Performance Indicators. This goes beyond mere league wins. It is about both style and substance that could be achieved with the current squad, which would look markedly different to, say, Bristol Bears or Harlequins. The club ran a similar process in the appointment of Steve Borthwick and McKellar; Cheika was more of a short-term contingency based on a long and distinguished CV. Parling ticked a lot of these boxes in the final shortlist of seven candidates. He understands the ethos of the club from a six-year playing spell, and after more than 250 appearances in the Premiership knew about the cut and thrust of the league. This proved to be the undoing of McKellar, who landed from Super Rugby and seemed unprepared for the relentless schedule of English rugby. Counting against Parling was the fact he had not held a head coach role, or had coached directly in the Premiership. However, the weighting of Leicester's metrics changed as the search dragged on, and the more references that Parling received from both fellow coaches and players, the higher he rose on their list. One of those recommendations is understood to have been from Australia head coach Joe Schmidt and the Wallabies made a strong pitch to retain Parling. For Parling, though, Leicester was a dream homecoming. While he also represented Newcastle Falcons, his hometown club, and Exeter Chiefs, where he won a third Premiership title, Leicester was the club where Parling felt the deepest affinity. They were pretty much the only club which he was prepared to leave Australia for, where he and his young family had become naturalised citizens. In a video the club released on Monday night, Parling said that 'you have that one place which feels more like home than anywhere else and Tigers was that for me'. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰: 𝐆𝐞𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 Tonight, at 7pm, Geoff Parling speaks for the first time after being appointed as Leicester Tigers Head Coach from next season. Watch it here: at 7pm. 🕖 — Leicester Tigers (@LeicesterTigers) May 12, 2025 The club's executive is also understood to have been bowled over by his presentation. A key theme was how he wanted to develop players, both from the academy and elevating signings to a new level like the club managed with Jasper Wiese and Julián Montoya. He outlined an extraordinary level of detail at each stage of his plan. Parling, who will join the club after Australia's three-Test series against the British and Irish Lions, will need time and patience to implement that vision. Leicester had delayed their search for a fly-half successor to Handre Pollard until their head coach was confirmed and while pickings will be slim in mid-May, Parling can at least turn to his southern-hemisphere contact book. A new defence coach will also need to be appointed to replace Kidwell, who had only come on a short-term basis, although it is understood that the rest of Leicester's coaching team, including attack coach Hewat and forwards coach Brett Deacon, will be retained. There are no guarantees that Parling will get leeway at a notoriously impatient club – McKellar had arrived with a similarly impressive reputation and glowing references, but that did not work. But after a torturous process, Leicester believe that they have finally got their ideal candidate.
