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'A free trial': How Jake Kerr curiously went from unwanted Leicester hooker into the thrust of Bristol's Premiership title battle
By Liam Heagney
It was yet another strange development in this strangest of rugby seasons, the sight of Jake Kerr, the one-cap Scotland hooker, getting thrust into action last Saturday for Gallagher Premiership leaders Bristol just weeks after Leicester released him from a situation where he had only appeared once for Tigers in the league this term.
March 20 at Exeter was when 25-year-old Kerr was seen for the only time this season in Premiership action for Leicester, the front-rower coming off the bench for the last eight minutes of that Sandy Park defeat. Thirty-three days later, Tigers announced they had granted him early release from his contract.
It sounded like quite a rejection for player who had been at the club since 2017, making 46 appearances in total. However, within 16 days of exiting Oval Park, he was wearing the Bears No16 jersey and playing 22 minutes in place of Bryan Byrne in their comeback derby victory at Bath, leaving Bristol boss Pat Lam felling chuffed that his latest punt on rescuing a talent in the doldrums had paid off.
"We got told he was getting let go by Leicester," said Lam, explaining how the unwanted Tigers front-rower so quickly changed his Premiership colours at a time of the year when it is unusual for a player to make this type of a switch.
"Alasdair Dickinson obviously knew him and we got a couple of other people here who knew him. We had a look and we got rung by his agent to see if he could come on a free trial, so he came in for a couple of weeks initially and he played in a friendly game and looked good enough for us to say, 'alright, let's give him a chance on the bench'.
"Will Capon had a shoulder niggle that possibly he could have played but it allowed us to give Will a chance that was 100 per cent - which it is for this week (against Gloucester on Monday) and Jake got in and did well and that is all you can do. It's what I want, coachable, hard working players and at the moment he is ticking that box so he strengthens that number."
Kerr, who earned his sole Scotland cap versus Italy in 2019, is now staying at Bristol until the end of a season where Harry Thacker has been a long-term injury absentee. Asked last September about his own career-making move from Leicester to the Bears, Thacker told RugbyPass: "To have someone backing your corner and looking out for the best interests of the individual as well as the team is pretty cool.”
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John, McKenzie was 10 years ago and he only lasted 15 months until the disgustingly unfair affair that brought him down. I thought that if he didn't get another gig over Eddie V2 then he was done. I read that he had been approached but declined to put his name in the ring.
There are no potential Wallaby coaches outside of McKellar unless you have some inside info?
Go to commentsThe way they are defending is sometime pathetic to be honest. Itoje is usually on the inside of the rush and he is paired with a slower tight forward. Unable to keep up with the rush we have seen the line become disconnected on the inside where the big boys are. How many times have we seen Earl rush past the first receiver almost into no mans land covering no attacker. It looks like a system without any guidance. Tome Wright, Ikitau and a number of Wallabies went back to this soft centre as did Williams, Jordan and several others. Also when the line is broken the multiple lines of defence seems to be missing. The rush is predicated on a cover and recovery system with multiple lines of defence but with England you dont see it any more. Fitness and conditioning seems to be off as well as players are struggling to keep up with the intensity of the rush. Felix Jones has left a huge hole. The whole situation was and is a mess. Why they insist on not letting him go and having him work remotely is beyond me. Its leading to massive negative press and is a hot button issue thats distracting from the squad. Also the communication around Jones and his role has been absolute rubbish and is totally disjointed. While some say he is working remotely and playing a role others are saying theres been no contact. His role has not been defined and so people keep asking and keep getting different answers. England need a clean break from him and need to start over. Whatever reason for his leaving its time to cut the rope before the saga drags the whole Borthwick regime down. As for Joe El Abd well good luck to him. He is being made to look like an amateur by the whole saga and he is being asked to coach a system thats not his and which has been perfected and honed since 2017 by Nienaber, Jones, Erasmus and Co and which was first started by White in 2004. He is literally trying to figure out a system pioneered by double world cup winning coaches at the highest level and coach it at the same time. Talk about being on a hiding to nothing.
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