{"id":39963,"date":"2025-04-22T03:05:08","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T03:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/39963\/"},"modified":"2025-04-22T03:05:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T03:05:08","slug":"michael-cheikas-premiership-charge-with-reborn-leicester-tigers-planet-rugby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/39963\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Cheika’s Premiership charge with reborn Leicester Tigers : Planet Rugby"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a rollercoaster year for Leicester Tigers with the ride now reaching a tantalising high.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If we look back to June last year, the situation was dire \u2013 eighth in the Premiership and without a coach as Dan McKellar returned home to take the reins of the Waratahs.<\/p>\n

And during their time of urgent need, up stepped the globetrotting Michael Cheika, a proven coach worldwide with a gap in his victory-laden CV \u2013 England.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to now, and Leicester Tigers<\/a> are back to where they belong under the Australian\u2019s stewardship, sitting second in the Premiership<\/a> table following their statement 36-19 bonus point victory over Bristol Bears<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cheika<\/a> is on a one-year contract at the Mattioli Woods Welford Road club, which makes this his one golden opportunity to add English domestic glory to his resume and bring the Tigers back to their notorious silverware-winning ways.<\/p>\n

And with just four Premiership regular season games remaining, fans will be banking on the 2015 World Rugby Coach of the Year to keep his side in the top four and return knockout rugby to their side of the East Midlands.<\/p>\n

Mental fortitude and bringing out the best<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no secret that Cheika has a knack for getting the best out of his players through ensuring they\u2019re mentally prepared to go out and compete.<\/p>\n

His impact on the likes of Freddie Steward and Jack van Poortvliet has reaped rewards on the field with the England full-back now seemingly full of the confidence he was lacking following reduced international minutes and a lacklustre campaign last year, while the scrum-half has rediscovered his pre-injury form that had him rated so highly.<\/p>\n

Premiership Team of the Week: \u2018Remarkably classy\u2019 Lions hopeful continues rise while England bolter emerges<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The Australian\u2019s coaching style at the Tigers has been described as supportive with an emphasis on mental fitness alongside rest and recovery, which has been evident with Welford Road bouncing and the Tigers seemingly enjoying their rugby again as they\u2019ve soared up the table.<\/p>\n

Recruitment and an emphasis on player development have paid dividends with the likes of Steward among others being afforded time to develop and refine certain skills to better themselves \u2013 a contrast to the toxic ploy of dropping players when they lack a certain skill.<\/p>\n

The addition of Adam Radwan from Newcastle Falcons has brought further star power to their scintillating backline, which many feel may challenge runaway leaders Bath down the stretch.<\/p>\n

Sitting pretty<\/p>\n

Sat in second place with three home games against Harlequins, Sale Sharks and Newcastle Falcons as well as a visit to table toppers, Bath, many will argue that the Tigers have a very handsome looking run-in as they look to seal a home semi-final.<\/p>\n

And with a number of their ticking backline on the scoresheet in the dominant display away to Bristol on Sunday, you can understand why many are excited about the challenge that Cheika\u2019s side is posing.<\/p>\n

But for the former Super Rugby and Heineken Cup-winning coach, the key to keeping his Leicester engine motoring is preparation and taking one step at a time and making the most of their home advantage.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlay-off chances will be decided after the last game of the season. We have just got to keep playing well, and we have got to play better at home, because we need to be better at home than we have been up until now this season,\u201d said Cheika.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe crowd that turn up in the numbers they do at our house is so good for us, so important to us, and we need to be better in front of all those who make our place so good. Look at next week, it\u2019s already sold out or nearly there as far as I know, and we\u2019ve still got a week to go. We\u2019re excited, there are three massive games to come for us and our fans at home this season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following their latest rampant outing against a Bears side who are famously difficult to contain at home, Cheika admitted it was testament to his side\u2019s preparation in the week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a lot of good in today, a lot to enjoy, but what I really enjoyed was the way in which our players accepted the challenge this week, prepared accordingly and delivered the performance we needed when the pressure was on,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

Now or never for Cheika to conquer England<\/p>\n

While Leicester fans will hope the bleak times of last season and current seismic rise will continue forever, it\u2019s no secret that Cheika\u2019s one-year contract until the end of this season means it\u2019s now or never to reach the summit of the English game.<\/p>\n

Ex-All Blacks coach on shortlist to replace Michael Cheika at Leicester Tigers \u2013 report<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

When you align his experience with their high-flying squad and the Tigers\u2019 knockout rugby prowess, it seems possible for them to win their first Premiership title since Freddie Burns\u2019 drop goal heroics at Twickenham in 2022.<\/p>\n

With double World Cup winning fly-half, Handre Pollard already confirmed to be moving back to South Africa at the end of the season and the likes of veteran England stars Ben Youngs and Dan Cole significantly reducing their playing time, Cheika will know this is the club\u2019s best chance to win a record extending 12th title.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0Bristol v Leicester winners and losers: Tigers \u2018hold their breath\u2019 on Handre Pollard as Wales flanker a \u2018thorn in the side\u2019 of Bears<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been a rollercoaster year for Leicester Tigers with the ride now reaching a tantalising high. If we…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[126,225,20795,22728,12,6875,4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-39963","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-features","9":"tag-home-page","10":"tag-leicester-tigers","11":"tag-michael-cheika","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-premiership","14":"tag-rugby","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114379405769979419","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}