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O'Connor to return as Leicester coach
By Iain Strachan
Leicester Tigers have secured the return of Premiership-winning coach Matt O'Connor to Welford Road.
O'Connor, capped once by Australia, guided Leicester to the title in 2013 as head coach under director of rugby Richard Cockerill, having previously worked as both a backline and attack coach for the Tigers.
He won the Pro12 in 2014 after moving to Leinster but was sacked at the end of his second season in charge there, becoming a member of the Queensland Reds and Tonga coaching staff, including a period serving as interim head coach of the Super Rugby team.
The 46-year-old will now be returning to the Premiership, as the incumbent Leicester coach Aaron Mauger prepares to leave after this Saturday's match against Northampton Saints, Cockerill having been sacked in January.
Matt O'Connor is to return to Welford Road as head coach pic.twitter.com/qwZmL4jYx7
— Leicester Tigers (@LeicesterTigers) March 20, 2017
"We are delighted that Matt O'Connor has accepted an offer to return to Welford Road," Tigers chairman Peter Tom said in a statement.
"The club has conducted an exhaustive search to find who we feel is the right person to take the team forward and this brought up the names of a number of potentially very good coaches. One of the most significant factors in our deliberations was experience of the Premiership and what it takes to win the competition.
"Matt has that experience as head coach during a successful period which brought three league titles, an Anglo-Welsh Cup and the club's most recent appearance in the European Cup Final. The team also topped the try-scoring figures in the Premiership four times in that five-year period with Matt in charge of the attack."
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"And you think they are finished products? 🤣"
I think Ntamack was a better player at 21 than Marcus is at 25. I think his game will continue to develop, but I don't think either of them will get very much better. Dan Carter became an incredible game manager as he got older, but he never dominated the opposition more than he did aged 23. Wilkinson pretty indisputably hit his peak at 24. Not everyone is Johnny Sexton, and most players who are touted as prodigies turn out to have peaked young.
"That, or the English game has been slow to develop. I'll let you decide the answer to that one Finn 😉"
no, England have generally looked like a good side when Smith isn't in the team.
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literally no one is arguing for Farrell.
Go to commentsScott Robertson is within his rights to state a case. Richie Mo'unga would have made a huge difference to the All Blacks this year. To say he and Richie worked well together at the Crusaders is a massive understatement. 7 titles speaks for itself. He then guided Brave Lupus to the Japanese League title in 2024. It worked well when Richie's fellow Crusaders great Matt Todd and team mate ,was able to play for the All Blacks while in Japan in 2018.
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