Geordan Murphy: 'Leicester at their lowest ebb in over 20 years'

Leicester's last win came against Scarlets in the Champions Cup on 19 October

Leicester interim head coach Geordan Murphy says he has never known the club to be at such a low point.

The Tigers were beaten 34-11 at home by Racing Metro at the weekend to all but end their Champions Cup hopes.

Domestically they have won just three Premiership games all season and are three points off the foot of the table.

"We're probably at the lowest ebb that I can remember in my history at the club," said Murphy, who first joined Leicester in 1997.

"How we respond and how we come back from this could make or break us," he told BBC Radio Leicester.

"The great Winston Churchill said 'when you're in hell, just make sure you keep going'."

Lack of confidence

Geordan Murphy has been in charge since September, having played more than 300 games for Leicester

Racing scored three tries in the opening 20 minutes to blow away a Leicester side that have lost nine of their last 10 games in all competitions.

"Confidence is obviously a huge issue," added Murphy, who took over after Matt O'Connor was sacked following a crushing 40-6 opening-day loss at Exeter.

"It's very, very low, if not non-existent in the squad, and when we do concede we very often concede back-to-back tries, so we need to work on it.

"I know they care, were just not getting it right, and from a coaching point of view that's probably on my head, my shoulders. I've got to do a better job with a view to giving them a little bit of confidence.

"After the game you could hear a pin drop in the changing room because they really want to go out and perform and they are certainly aware that we didn't."

Fresh face in the coaching team?

David Ellis has coached with New Zealand, France and Tonga as well as London Irish, Gloucester and a host of French clubs

With Leicester close to the salary cap, bringing in new players to freshen up the side is a difficult job.

But Murphy says he is in the process of bringing in a new defence coach with a number of candidates, including former France and New Zealand assistant coach Dave Ellis, having been interviewed already.

"The board have been quite supportive of me and they've said 'let's get it right, let's make sure we add somebody who's got some real experience to the coaching room', and that's what we're looking to do at the moment.

"We've sat down with some defensive coaches and we've sat down with some coaches who've got experience from different sports and different things across the world of rugby.

"We want to add someone who is going to have a real impact on the whole coaching room, not just in defence, not just in attack, but someone we can all learn from."