A Glance at Tigers and Sharks
For the last few days I have been trying to assemble my thoughts on Leicester Tigers. Again and again I have had to start again; news keeps flooding in.
Most of it is extremely worrying for the club that finished eighth out of nine last season in the English PWR.
First came the thunderbolt of Tigers’ two Red Roses, Amy Cokayne and Meg Jones, deciding to leave: Cokayne for Sale Sharks, Jones for Trailfinders. Those two clubs happened to occupy the places either side of Tigers in the league table, the bottom three.
Since then there has been an almost daily seepage of players away from the Mattioli-Woods Stadium.
From the start of June they have lost the services of Francesca McGhie and Claire Gallagher (both Canada) to Trailfinders; Mae Sagapolu and Tahlie Brody (both USA) to Lightning down the road.
Yesterday it was the turn of Eva Donaldson, the Scotland international, who is following a well trodden path north to Sale.
As of today – it just happens to be Friday 13th – news breaks of the Scotland centre Evie Wills’ move from Tigers to Sharks. Who’s next?
What is happening at Welford Road?
Beyond matters of playing-strength comes the question of club management. Tom Hudson, now in charge at Sale, was previously the boss at Leicester. In their two-year period of PWR membership the Tigers have managed to get through three head coaches.
It was Vicky Macqueen who did much of the hard work bringing them up to the standards required for acceptance at elite level, but she left. Hudson followed soon enough, and some Tigers players have followed him northwards.
Fraser Goatcher, the new DoR, has tried to put the best gloss of events he can. He stresses the younger profile of the team and the importance of player development within the club, always a central plank in its policy. But the absence of any detailed response to the wholescale departures must leave committed fans wondering.
This is one of the great English clubs. It was almost a surprise seeing them apply for membership of PWR two years ago. Why were they not in from the start? Was it a belated change of heart? The revolving door of staff changes takes some explaining.
Then we can query the checks the PWR board made before approving the Tigers’ application. Could or should they have spotted weaknesses in the commitment of the club members who matter most?
It brings us back to the two rebuilding stages of the Premier 15s/PWR. At three-year intervals clubs were invited to re-apply for membership. There were two central requirements: onfield playing standards and off-field support services. With a club as distinguished as Leicester, there could be little doubt about that second element. But they must include the commitment of thte people at the very top of the club.
Why the constant management changes? Are the rumours of a half-hearted attitude to the women’s sector in any way proven?
Past sanctions have seen clubs dismissed from the presence, and they included some with histories as notable as Leicester’s: Richmond and Wasps above all. No mercy was shown.
The PWR board is in a cleft stick. It seems impossible to discover a tenth club to re-establish the league to its former size. If one of the surviving nine fails to come up to scratch, what then? Reduce the league to eight? Dominoes come to mind.
Sale Sharks
I have been concerned about Sharks’ perilous position in the league for a long while – nearly as concerned as they were. They trumpeted the call “Northern Rugby Matters!”, since they were the sole surviving club from north of the Trent.
How times have changed! I had not expected this outcome: the acquisition of a host of new names, adding enormously to the overall strength of the squad.
Their prize signing was Holly Aitchison, John Mitchell’s Number One choice at 10. When we add her name to others, both old and new, it adds up to quite a formidable unit. Names like: Morwenna Talling (captain), Tysh Harper, Beatrice Rigoni, Sofia Stefan, Erica Jarrell, Olivia Ortiz, Courtney Keight, Charlotte Fray (ex-Tigers), Lizzie Duffy, Gwen Pyrs – and Cokayne.
If Sale do flourish in the 2025-26 season, I see that as the single most important club development of all. We have grown all too used to clubs being thrown out of the league, but DMP Sharks and Firwood Waterloo, both from the far north, were two of the most damaging losses for English rugby.
Next season is still a long way off, but the present outlook is far more prosperous for the ‘lonely northern outpost’ that is Sale. Yes, I know, it’s well over 200 miles south of the Scottish border!
