Richard Cockerill never shied away from a challenge as a player, a mindset he maintained when he took over the position as head coach with the Leicester Tigers.
His combustible nature has brought the odd skirmish with authority but it his resilience or bloody-mindedness to which he’s turned in what has been a difficult start to the season for the Tigers. The English club were at one point missing 21 first team players through injury – including Ireland’s Niall Morris who had surgery recently on ruptured ankle ligaments – or unavailability.
Leicester have lost their last three Aviva Premiership matches, including a 45-0 thumping by Bath at the Recreation Ground. They host Harlequins tomorrow night, knowing that a fourth successive loss would be their worst run in over a decade.
Eight days later Ulster head for Welford Road on the opening weekend of the European Rugby Champions Cup, the Irish province looking to emulate their victory in the tournament's previous incarnation last season. Cockerill's under pressure but he's not cowed by the criticism, insisting that it should be directed at him and no one else on a backroom staff that includes former Ireland internationals, Paul Burke and Geordan Murphy.
Other en
d “I am not here to protect my job. That would be a slow death. I know the score.
“If a club like Leicester can get rid of the likes of Dean Richards and Bob Dwyer, then I know exactly how it can end. We are in this together and we will come out the other end.
“I need to protect the playing environment. I’ll talk about things. This is my responsibility. If there is mud being slung, I’ll take it. It’s my fault if we lose. I’m not worried about getting the sack.
“My sleeping patterns aren’t great, waking at 4.0am and thinking about what needs to be done. It’s only right that supporters should have their say.
“But I won’t have uneducated comments directed at my backroom staff, spouting rubbish about our culture being too hard and players getting injured. The one thing I won’t stand for is others being made a scapegoat.
“I won’t do that just to get myself 12 more months in the job. I will not shirk and I will not hide away. That is how I still manage to have credibility in the changing room.”
His debut
The Tigers welcome back Marcos Ayerza from international duty, Italian prop Michele Rizzo from injury while
Heineken Cup
winner with Leinster,
Brad Thorn
, came through his debut last weekend.
The casualty list includes Seremaia Bai (calf), Manu Tuilagi (groin), Christian Loamanu (groin), Anthony Allen (knee) and Tom Croft (knee), amongst others but Cockerill did say he hoped to have Allen and Loamanu fit for the Ulster match.
Referring to the Ulster match Cockerill said: “We certainly know how difficult it will be. We’ve struggled to get past them in the last few years in Europe. Last year we were 10 points up with 20 minutes to go and we managed to lose by three and that cost us a home quarter-final.
“They’ve had some coaching changes and personnel changes over the summer, but Ulster are Ulster, just like Leicester are Leicester. On the big day, you know they’ll come up with the goods.
“We’ve got them first up at Welford Road and clearly we’ve not been in the best of form. We’ll need to make sure we’re right on it. We need to make sure we bring it with us for those big European days at Welford Road, and we’ll certainly need to bring it a week on Saturday.”
Ulster have one of two injury concerns of their own notably outhalf Paddy Jackson who presented with concussive type symptoms on Monday and is out of the game against Glasgow Warriors as is Michael Allen (dislocated shoulder). Ricky Lutton, Peter Nelson and Dave Ryan are fit again and available.
Meanwhile Leinster’s final pool game in this season’s European Rugby Champions Cup against Wasps in January – the Irish province kick off their campaign against the same opponents at the RDS the weekend after next – will be played at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry after the English club agreed a €27 million deal with the Coventry City council to move from their current Adams Park home within the next month.
The change of venue means that Birmingham and East Midlands are the nearest airports for those Leinster supporters intending to travel.
