1
Leicester sign ex-Wasps prop West and a South African youngster
By Liam Heagney
New Leicester boss Richard Wigglesworth has strengthened his squad with immediate effect, signing England prospect Tom West and Cameron Miell, an up-and-coming youngster from South Africa. Loosehead West was made redundant in October when Wasps collapsed but Tigers have now given him a fresh start.
A statement read: “Leicester Tigers can confirm the addition of Tom West for the remainder of the 2022/23 season. The front-rower joins the club after most recently playing for Wasps, who he represented between 2016 and 2022 after graduating from the club's academy programme, while also spending time on loan with Nottingham.
“West was selected as part of the England Under-20s squad in 2015 and 2016 before being called into the senior national squad in 2021.
“The club can also confirm the addition of South African youngster, Cameron Miell. The versatile forward, who has played throughout the pack, joins the Leicester Tigers senior academy from Paul Roos Gimnasium in Stellenbosch where he was a member of the school's first team for the past two seasons.”
Wigglesworth said: "Tom is an experienced Premiership player who we are delighted to have on board for the remainder of this season. He adds some much-needed depth in the front row, where we have injuries and the potential for players away during the Six Nations, as well as helping continue healthy competition for places.
"As well as what he can offer us up front, on the field, Tom is a great young man who will be a positive addition to the club in many more ways," continued the coach. "Cameron is a young man with a physical presence on the field and a lot of potential in the game. In a very short space of time, he has shown a real work ethic and desire to improve. We're excited to see what comes of Cameron and working with him to develop his game at Leicester."
West added: "I am excited to be here. Leicester were the first club I came and watched as a young boy, being from Norfolk, so it's very exciting to be a part of it now. I am really looking forward to getting going, especially after what has happened this season, and playing top-level rugby at a great club and seeing what I can bring to the squad.”
Miell said: "I’m delighted to be awarded this fantastic opportunity with Leicester and cannot wait to test myself and learn in such a world-class environment."
Trending on RugbyPass
2
All Blacks XV player ratings vs Munster
3
Suaalii strikes awe as Wallabies lose midfielder
4
Scott Robertson responds about handling errors
5
Latest Comments
Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".
But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.
The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.
Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?
Go to commentsI think they just need to judge better when it's on and when it's not. If there is a disjointed chase and WJ has a forward in front of him and some space to work with then he should have a crack every time.
If the chase is perfect and the defence is numbered up then it needs to get sent back. From memory they have not really developed a plan for what to do if they take the ball on/in the 22 with a good chase and no counter attacking opportunity.
Go to comments