A familiar figure turned up at Leicester’s training ground on Wednesday but any cosy suggestion of business as usual was conspicuously absent. Even as Richard Cockerill was bidding farewell to the squad in person following his removal as the Tigers’ director of rugby, his interim successor, Aaron Mauger, was making it crystal clear that irreconcilable coaching differences had prompted the pair’s professional break-up.
While the two men, according to Mauger, never fell out personally and shared an amicable 10-minute chat at Oval Park on Wednesday, the former All Black centre made no attempt to deny that significant tactical and philosophical disagreements lay behind Leicester’s decision to end Cockerill’s lengthy tenure in charge. “We probably have a lot of fundamental differences of philosophy in how to play and train to the point where I’d be saying black and Cockers would be saying white,” Mauger said. Small wonder the club’s players have looked slightly confused this season.
Mauger also confirmed the club’s board had been contemplating a change at the top for some time, even before the Tigers were thrashed 38-0 by Munster in Limerick last month. “When they look at performance they want to know why we are not getting there,” he said. “A lot of questions have been asked over the last couple of months … lots of people have given feedback and the feedback has been pretty consistent: that we are all responsible. It’s not one person, although one person might be the front man. We are all responsible for the situation we are in. If we had our time again we all would like to have done a better job.”
Given it was Cockerill who approached Mauger to ask for assistance in rejuvenating Leicester’s attacking game, it was also interesting to hear the Kiwi suggest both individuals were aware from the start they would clash stylistically. “Cockers and I knew when I took the role on – and Cockers was the guy who brought me over to work with him – that there would be a lot of differences between us but we thought that could be a good thing. Personally we get along well but, unfortunately, we couldn’t work through those barriers. When you have too many differences it is often hard to give clarity to people and that is probably where we came a bit unstuck.”
So was it a case, in the end, of the board choosing between him and Cockerill? “I wasn’t privy to every conversation that has gone on behind closed doors,” came the measured reply. “I’m not sure.”
Like everyone else, though, Mauger is having to come to terms with the large hole left by Cockerill’s abrupt departure following the home defeat against Saracens last Sunday. Leicester are fifth in the Premiership table but face the leaders, Wasps, in Coventry on Sunday with an increasing injury list. The news that Manu Tuilagi will be forced to sit out the rest of the season with a knee injury has come at a delicate time, with several players clearly unnerved by the coaching reshuffle. “It has certainly been very unsettling,” said Mauger, who has been placed in charge until the end of the season. “Cockers is a family man, he’s a good man, he’s got kids and he’s got feelings too. I certainly feel for him in the situation he is in … it could easily have been me.”
In the short term the former Tigers forward Brett Deacon has been asked to help coach the first team’s defence while the board assess their next move. The choice will probably come down to importing another seasoned coach from overseas to try to deliver fresh impetus or inviting a gnarled ex-Tiger such as Martin Johnson to assume some kind of managerial role. Mauger did his best to sound neutral on Johnson – “That’s other boys’ decisions … he’s probably one guy you’d look at, he’s a Leicester legend” – but made clear he wants to stay at Welford Road. “I just want to survive and get through the next few weeks. It can be a pretty fickle game, as we have just found out with people getting fired.”
His prospects are set to hinge on how swiftly he can improve Leicester’s results and mindset, particularly away from home, while his erstwhile coaching partner seeks alternative employment. “You could probably name 10 clubs around the world he could walk into and make a massive difference with his style and approach,” Mauger said.
Leicester may have chopped Cockerill but that could prove to be the easy bit.
