Leicester stick with Bok-style bench as Pollard starts versus Farrell
Leicester have decided to stick with their new Springboks-like tactic of a six/two forwards/backs bench split when they play host to Saracens on Saturday in the Gallagher Premiership.
Having gone with a five/three division in his replacements for the opening 11 league and Champions Cup matches this season, Dan McKellar changed tack with his plan B after the pre-Christmas defeat at Exeter.
Tigers were comfortably beaten 29-10 at Sandy Park that December day, leaving them off the pace in the lower half of the Premiership.
It resulted in their Australian head coach opting for a six/two split for last weekend’s momentum-regaining 35-22 win over Bath, bringing back row duo Olly Cracknell and Kyle Hatherell off the bench on 52 and 61 minutes respectively for Tommy Reffell and Jasper Wiese.
With defending champions Saracens next up at Mattioli Woods Welford Road, McKeller has decided to go with this same tactic of having a second back row option amongst the replacements to bolster his first unchanged starting line-up of the season.
The only change to the match day 23 is the return of fit-again Ben Youngs as the sub scrum-half following Thursday’s immediate effect departure of short-term signing Joe Powell.
McKeller said: “The group that started against Bath came out with the required physical intent and were excellent for 45 minutes, so we have rewarded that. But we know we must be good for the 80 this week.”
Saracens have made eight changes to their starting XV, including the recall of skipper Owen Farrell at No10 in direct opposition to Handre Pollard, following their 37-19 success against Newcastle.
Sam Crean, Kapeli Pifeleti, Maro Itoje and Ben Earl are their four forward changes, with Gareth Simpson, Nick Tompkins and Tom Parton added to their backs.
LEICESTER: 15. Freddie Steward; 14. Harry Simmons, 13. Dan Kelly, 12. Solomone Kata, 11. Mike Brown; 10. Handre Pollard, 9. Tom Whiteley; 1. James Cronin, 2. Julian Montoya (capt), 3. Joe Heyes, 4. George Martin, 5. Ollie Chessum, 6. Matt Rogerson, 7. Tommy Reffell, 8. Jasper Wiese. Reps: 16. Finn Theobold-Thomas, 17. Francois van Wyk, 18. Will Hurd, 19. Harry Wells, 20. Kyle Hatherell, 21. Olly Cracknell, 22. Ben Youngs, 23. Jamie Shillcock.
SARACENS: 15. Tom Parton; 14. Rotimi Segun, 13. Elliot Daly, 12. Nick Tompkins, 11. Lucio Cinti; 10 Owen Farrell (capt), 9. Gareth Simpson; 1. Sam Crean, 2. Kapeli Pifeleti, 3. Christian Judge, 4. Maro Itoje, 5. Hugh Tizard, 6. Theo McFarland, 7. Juan Martin Gonzalez, 8. Ben Earl. Reps: 16. Theo Dan, 17. Logovi’i Mulipola, 18. Ollie Hoskins, 19. Nick Isiekwe, 20. Andy Christie, 21. Ivan van Zyl, 22. Manu Vunipola, 23. Alex Lewington.
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All of these media pundits always miss the obvious whenever they analyse what is ailing or assisting the game. Rugby always has contentious points for debate when picking apart individual games and finding fault with itself. All this focus and scrutiny on “speeding up the game”, “high ball in play” etc is all contextual to the fan. As a tv viewer, if you’re absorbed into a game, regardless if your team is playing or not, more ball in play time and action are all byproducts of the contest. A good contest subliminally affects your memory in selectively remembering all the good aspects. A poor contest and your brain has switched off because its a blowout and the result is never in doubt or it’s a real chore to watch and remain engaged throughout. The URC, Top 14 and English premiership are all competitions that feel like there’s real jeopardy each week. The dominance of Super rugby by NZ teams was unhealthy from a sustainable interest perspective. You can’t fault those teams or the players, but the lack of competitions won by SA and Australian teams long term was always going to test the faith and patience of die-hard and casual fans from those regions. SANZAR took their eye off the fans and fans voted with their feet and subscriptions. They were so concerned about expanding their product they forgot the golden rule about broadcasting live sport. Viewers tune in more when there’s an atmosphere and a true contest. You need to fill stadiums to create one, host unions need to do more to service ticket buyers, and this year proves the other, there’s more interest in Super rugby this year only because more games are competitive with less foregone conclusions. All these micro statistics bandied about, only interest the bean counters and trainspotters.
Go to commentsIt’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
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