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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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Latest Comments
How about a SH type of Champions Cup? I'm not going to repeat the whole response here, but did write what I think would be good. Not only for NZ, but all of the SH. I would however love to hear your thoughts on such a competition
Go to commentsCan’t really complain about those scores. Individually, too many were off their best and went missing in big, match defining moments. Collectively, the team often looked muddled and lacked cool-headed, leadership especially in the final quarter of games. This was further compounded by a quality drop-off from the bench.
Calls for Borthwick’s dismissal have grown increasingly louder with each passing game as he has been shown to be tactically and selectively subpar. His position is now in the balance and I don’t believe he’ll be kept on unless England fix their defensive issues and beat at least one of Ireland, France or Scotland in the 6Ns, which on the latest showing looks increasingly unlikely.
Couple of returning players in Chessum and Mitchell coupled with a stronger bench, might give England fans a few reasons to remain optimistic.
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