New Tigers coach opens up on wild start to job with shock axing of boss

Given that Leicester Tigers have not yet played a match while Peter Hewat has served as their attack coach, it has been a strange start to life at Welford Road for the Australian.

The former London Irish fullback was recruited in June in a move that saw him reunite with his former Brumbies boss Dan McKellar. Just over a week later McKellar was sacked. 

Hewat's compatriot Michael Cheika was named head coach soon after, completing what was surely a tumultuous start to life with the Tigers.

Despite this change, Hewat said that he and his colleagues remain "laser-focused" when speaking to the club recently. 

“Look there’s no secrets, there was a big change with Michael coming in, but my focus was and is on being part of achieving something special here with this group, and from top to bottom, I could see that the whole organisation is laser-focused on doing the same," he said.

“That's the kind of environment any coach would want to be part of.”

Leicester get their Gallagher Premiership season underway against the Exeter Chiefs on September 21, but have preseason fixtures against Nottingham and the Scarlets, providing this new-fangled coaching team a chance to implement their ideas.

While Hewat therefore expects the Tigers to improve as the season progresses as the coaching team gel with the players and amongst themselves, there are nevertheless some non-negotiables.

"Michael and I have spent a lot of time with the players, had open discussions where we feel we need to go to get better in our attack and how we get there," he added. "We’ve looked to break things down to individual components to then build things up and week by week, we’re seeing the improvements we want to see.

“Like anything on a rugby field, it’s about the individual owning their role in the collective effort and that takes time. Will we grow and develop during the season? Absolutely we will but there’s also an element of doing the basics, being physical and doing what it takes to get the job done, especially early on.”