One of Leicester’s leading players believes the Tigers are at their lowest ebb for at least a decade and will struggle to solve their problems overnight. The England prop Dan Cole admits the club have a range of troubles to address and says last Saturday’s 43-0 record home defeat by Glasgow ranked among the worst days of his career.
With Leicester also announcing on Tuesday that Ed Slater, the club captain last season, has been suspended for two weeks following an internal disciplinary hearing into an incident during the Glasgow game, Cole acknowledges the team’s descent is proving a “painful” experience.
“The club has been through them before but in my 10 years at Leicester it’s never been as bad as this,” Cole said. “We came up against a very good Glasgow side but it shouldn’t have been 43-0. It was probably one of the worst defeats in the club’s history and, unfortunately, it’s not out of the blue.”
Cole, in Portugal with the national squad preparing for the Six Nations, fears there is no quick fix after the departure this month of Richard Cockerill as director of rugby. “It’s not just a recruitment thing. When you lose 43-0 it’s more than one thing that is the problem. Whether that is recruitment, coaching or individuals … I think it is a combination of everything. I don’t think anyone thought getting rid of Cockers would instantly turn everything around and make everything hunky dory. That’s been proven. Since being in Premiership finals, the past couple of years we’ve faded away.
“This year’s probably a cumulation of some things but hopefully, at some point, it might be the kick up the arse we need to rejig and play to our potential. If you look at the squad we’ve got it’s a very good one. We should be better than we are.”
The 29-year-old Cole, who has 18 months left on his contract, insisted the club will rise again. “The core of the group, the coaches, the board, the fans, the players, won’t accept being mediocre. You want to be pushing and winning things, especially as I’m nearer the end of my career than the beginning. The fan base will not accept us being average. We have a proud history to live up to.
“The worst thing would be for us to be complacent, [finish] fifth or sixth and be happy with where we are. I’m pretty sure there are clubs out there who are like that but at Leicester our aspirations are higher. It is painful now but we have aspirations to win things. We might have been cruising on the back of what has happened in the past, whereas now we can’t do that anymore. We have to focus on the future.”
Having seen England’s fortunes revived by Eddie Jones, Cole believes both local and overseas coaches are Leicester’s best solution. “We were probably at our best when we had a Cockers or Deano, supplemented by a Matt O’Connor or Aaron Mauger, someone who gets more out of us than just traditional Leicester ways.
“There are some very good things at the club you just don’t throw away but the club works best when you have a marriage of the outside with the inside. This season, we’ve been poor away from home but that defeat probably shows it’s not just a home-away thing, it’s a club thing. We have to get to the bottom of it now.”
Slater will miss the Tigers’ next two Anglo-Welsh Cup games, against Northampton and Saracens, after the club decided to impose their own punishment following a citing charge against the lock forward for striking a Glasgow opponent in the first half. Leicester said Slater had expressed regret for his actions.
