Leicester have got their roar back this season. They go into Sunday’s Champions Cup match against Munster at Welford Road on the back of last weekend’s handsome victory at Thomond Park and an unbeaten home run in the league and Europe that stretches back to September last year. But the Tigers are not purring.
Their captain, Ed Slater, has called on his players to reinforce the 31-19 victory in Munster with key Premiership matches against Saracens and Northampton coming up at the start of the new year, describing Sunday’s encounter as a moment of reckoning.
“Things are going well for us at the moment and I hope in time to look back on last week as a victory to be proud of but all that matters now is backing up that performance.
“This is the more important match of the two because we have to finish the job at home. It was far from being one-way at Thomond Park and Munster are a very good side with some world-class players. We cannot go around thinking of how good we are because of that victory. It has not been a good European Cup for the Irish provinces so far but I put that down to a World Cup hangover and nothing more. They all have really strong squads and I think the big difference between now and a few seasons ago when they tended to get the better of English clubs is that there is more strength in depth across the Premiership. We were 17 points down at Worcester this month and had to dig deep to win. We know Munster will come at us and we have to be ready.”
Slater is in his second season as Leicester captain but he has made only nine appearances in that time because of a knee injury sustained while captaining England in their uncapped match against the Crusaders on the 2014 tour to New Zealand. He came back at the end of last season but suffered a relapse and missed the first four matches of this campaign.
“I am enjoying the captaincy,” said Slater, who joined Leicester in 2010 after spending four years in Australia. “It was not something I expected and you have to get to grips with the mental side of the job, looking to get the best not just out of yourself but those around you.
“Attitude defines a team and we are always asking questions of each other. While we have made a decent start to the season with just one defeat, we know there is more, much more, to come from us. The club had a rough spell last year, but [director of rugby] Richard Cockerill shouldered all the responsibility and kept the pressure off the players. He understands what the club is about and all it stands for but as players we have to look at ourselves first.
“It is easy to blame coaches when you lose but, if you want ownership as players, which the coaches here give us, you have to stick up your hands when things do not go well. Aaron Mauger [head coach] has a saying that players make the best coaches.
“The management give us the information and recognise we have to make the decisions when we are on the field. That means players talking to each other all the time and fixing things that are not working: there is nothing the coaches can do because they are in the stand. I may be the captain but there are leaders throughout the team: the likes of Tom Youngs and Dan Cole do not get anywhere enough credit for what they bring to the side but I know their value.”
Injury robbed Slater of the opportunity to win his first cap after he broke into the squad for the 2014 Six Nations and that summer’s tour. The England captaincy debate broke out in earnest last week and, while the 27-year-old second-row, who is again playing on the blind side against Munster, is not a contender as he re-establishes himself with Leicester, he has the drive, ambition, competitiveness and honesty that the new England head coach, Eddie Jones, will appreciate.
“I do not know Eddie Jones, although having spent time in Australia I appreciate where he will be coming from. Jean de Villiers [the Leicester and former South Africa centre] worked with Eddie in the 2007 World Cup and said to me the other day that he would be good for England, which clearly means something.
“The captaincy is being talked about. I have no idea which way Eddie will go and he will work it out in his own way after having conversations with people, but I do not think he should dismiss Chris Robshaw too easily. He was the captain during my time with the squad and when I was first picked he welcomed me and showed me around, something that is really important when you are new to it all. He made me feel at ease and he should feel hard done by at some of the things that have been said after the World Cup. What happened was not his fault and the past is all about learning from it.”
What matters for Slater is the present, not the past or the future. “I was out of action for a long time and I am feeling confident again. It is a long time [2002] since we won the European Cup and we have missed the last two Premiership finals. There is a long way to go and we have to make a statement against Munster.”
