Tom Hudson, head coach of Leicester Tigers, will step down at the season’s end; so will his deputy, Luke Stratford.
This is yet another indication of the fraught nature of existence in the PWR. Any parallels you may draw with Premier League football only go to show the perils of the move towards professionalism.
At a distance from Welford Road, it’s hard to tell where the weakness lies, but from the moment Tigers were admitted to the new league, it seemed to me their recruitment policy was at fault. Part of the problem was already having a squad operating in a lower league. It was natural enough for them to show loyalty to those players, but hardly sensible, when we consider the intensity of competition.
The extreme alternative would have been to assemble a completely new squad. That was the view Giselle Mather took when setting up the Trailfinders operation. She scoured the world for players she felt would thrive at this demanding level. Although the TF authorities took the ludicrous decision to dismiss her, TF’s ongoing successes show the wisdom of that approach.
Here’s a glance at some Tigers’ players. If you reckon that’s a pretty useful bunch, then we have to wonder why the coaching staff isn’t making more of them:
Bainbridge DMP and Wasps, Bartlett Scotland, Cokayne England, Grimes Glos-Pury and Chiefs, England U20s, Donaldson Scotland, Jacobs South Africa and Saracens, Omokhuale Canada,
Brody USA, McBrien Worcester, Gallagher Canada, Jones England A, Maxwell Scotland and Loughborough, Relf Loughborough, Henrich USA, Jones England, England and GB 7s, Nicholas England U20s, Worcester, Wills Scotland, Feury USA, McGhie Scotland, Quansah Wasps and England 7s, Swartz Sweden captain, Tutt Wales, Loughborough.
Leicester is one highly distinguished club, so why was there no-one in high position to offer words of wisdom about the approach the women’s sector took in the early stages?
They did acquire the services of two England greats, Amy Cokayne and Meg Jones. It was the club’s misfortune that both suffered lengthy injuries, which left the starting Fifteens with insufficient experience to overcome the challenges set.
Hudson had been Vicky Macqueen’s deputy for a year before she resigned. My unproven conclusion is that it was her policies that led to Tigers’ poor performances. I’m very happy to be corrected on that point.
But it means a third head coach will be in place by the start of next season. It puts them directly in line with Sharks, who will lose the services of Rachel Taylor at the same time. The job-insecurity we can see here is not a good sign for the well-being of the league. But then, with players switching clubs in large numbers every season, stability is becoming an unfashionable word.
Once more, we may wonder what the PWR board’s reaction is. They may well have been mightily relieved by the news of Sale Sharks’ grafting win at Exeter last Sunday. Now they confront problems facing the other club struggling at the bottom of the league.
I for one look forward to a general statement of intent from Genevieve Shore and her committee. On the surface everything is bubbling along splendidly; great rugby on view. Below the surface sharks are marauding, and they aren’t Sale Sharks.
