In a successful first round of this year’s Fours Premiership, Leicester Tigers saw four wins out of four, the debut of French International Sebastian Verdin and the return of GB Silver Medallists Nick Cummins, Kieran Flynn, and Jack Smith.
Last weekend’s second round of the Premiership, held at Fenton Manor in Stoke on Trent, saw the Tigers both entering and leaving as league leaders, continuing their unbeaten run and stellar form.
The first game saw the side face the Northern Alliance. After triumphing in the first round by a score of 62 - 40, Tigers bettered themselves in a storming start to the weekend, winning by 70 - 31. The Northerners were featuring a swathe of up and coming female players who had recently represented Great Britain at the Women’s Wheelchair Rugby world cup.
The coaching team identified this game as a perfect opener to allow the side to refine areas that they knew would need to be sharp ahead of a crunch match with West Coast Crash as well as seeing the likes of Jack Coulson given plenty of valuable court time, showing that his extra commitment to training sessions has truly paid off with a great performance.
As predicted, the West Coast Crash clash was a far tighter affair. Tigers opponents had welcomed back Great Britain high point player Stuart Robinson, his return boosting an already strong and experienced West Coast team. With both sides winning their first games of the day, the pressure was on and the team selection reflected this, a strong side featuring with Verdin, Flynn, Smith and paralympic gold medallist Jamie Stead.
An intense start saw neither side giving an inch, trading blow for blow, point for point. But as the first quarter came to an end, the turnovers started to come. With Jack Smith having an outstanding game in defence, the team began to pull away, eventually finishing with a 55 - 42 win to go into Sunday’s fixtures still unbeaten.
The second day of action began with the team taking on the Sea Hawks. Another game where the wider squad were able to get meaningful gametime, including two young development players Rhumbi and Lawrence. This was Rhumbi’s first game at Premiership level and she impressed, all whilst playing with, according to coaches ‘the biggest smile ever seen on a rugby court’ and enjoyed every second. This was another comfortable win for the side, with a final score of 57 – 39, but most importantly there was lots of player development alongside it.
The final match of the weekend was the big one, a top of the table clash that saw 1st against 2nd in the table as Tigers took on London Storm. On the first weekend of the Fours Premiership, the Storm were noted as a dangerous sides, with the likes of experienced, intelligent Paralympic Gold Medalist Aaron Phipps, with a tight 53-46 score line reflecting a nip and tuck game.
As expected, the game started intensely start, neither team showing any weaknesses but again, Tigers were able to pull away with captain Jamie Stead having a stand out game and leading by example and helping the team to a 53 – 42 to close out the weekend’s action still on top of the Fours Premiership.
With one final round of competition left, Tigers are in pole position to claim the trophy but, as ever with sport, it's not over till it's over. If you’d like to lend your support to the team, a thrilling round three is on the way on August 5 & 6 at Stoke’s Mandeville Stadium.
Two weekends now and the team have come away unbeaten and looking dominant. The club has grown and developed over the last few years with the hard work from club members and the support from the Tigers Foundation. The morale and camaraderie within the team is probably the best it’s been in years. It's great to have a full bench again and everyone did what was expected of them. Great work. - Great Britain and Tigers player Gavin Walker
