The Leicester Tigers have officially announced the hiring of Michael Cheika as their new head coach. However, there are many issues that need to be resolved at Mattioli Woods Welford Road. Last season, the Tigers struggled to an eighth-place Premiership finish and finished with just two wins from their final eight games across all competitions. To make matters worse, they lost the Premiership Rugby Cup final during that run.
Dan McKellar’s time at Welford Road came to an end as a result of this bad spell, but Cheika now has to pick up the pieces.
What will be his top priority, though? This is a detailed look at Cheika’s to-do list.
launching a reset attack
Under McKellar, Leicester’s offensive was their biggest problem, and Cheika will surely prioritise this.
With only 51 tries allowed in the league (tied for first place with Sale Sharks), the Tigers had one of the greatest defences in the Premiership last season, but their attacking numbers were constantly low. They were third from bottom in carries (2002) and defenders defeated (366), and they scored the third fewest tries (55).
Peter Hewat, an accomplished attack coach, may be the spark that Leicester needs, but Cheika will still need to figure out how to get their offence going.
With players like Ollie Hassell-Collins, Handre Pollard, Solomone Kata, Freddie Steward, and Anthony Watson all contributing greatly to their backline, they have guys that can really hurt an opposition defence. Ollie Chessum, Tommy Reffell, George Martin, and others up front also carry a mean punch.
Although Leicester have a strong team, Cheika and Hewat will need to significantly change their offensive strategy if they hope to compete at the highest level of English rugby once more.
