Leicester Tigers: How Richard Wigglesworth's side transformed their Premiership season
- Published
Leicester Tigers won six of their last seven games to reach the Premiership play-offs
"We saw that stat, of course we saw that stat. It motivated us for sure," said Handre Pollard - the Leicester Tigers and South Africa fly-half - with a wry smile.
In January, data firm Oval Insights gave Leicester Tigers an 8% chance of reaching the Premiership play-offs after a defeat by close rivals Northampton Saints, which was their third on the bounce and left them in eighth place.
It was not a wild suggestion.
Leicester had been hammered by Sale and Newcastle, their head coach and defence coach had been poached by England and an inexperienced new boss was at the helm. It seemed as though their season was subsiding.
"Before the run of games, morale was low, it was tough," says wing Harry Potter. "We were struggling.
"There was a tough spot, and we had to dig ourselves out of it."
Richard Wigglesworth's Leicester have transformed their campaign, winning six games on the bounce to comfortably reach their 14th semi-final. They face Sale on Sunday aiming to do what no team has done before, and win the Premiership having finished third.
This is how Tigers turned it around.
Wigglesworth ended his playing career to take up the interim head coach role at Tigers
When Steve Borthwick and Kevin Sinfield were recruited by England mid-season, Tigers put 39-year-old Richard Wigglesworth in charge.
Wigglesworth has played more Premiership matches than anyone else, winning multiple Premiership and Champions Cup titles, and had been coaching at Leicester for two years.
But he was still playing and, in fact, made his final appearance two days before he was announced as head coach.
"I said no to the job at first, when they called me in midweek, because I was so focused on playing," he said.
"I had a few heart-to-hearts, a good long think, and on the Friday I agreed to do it before my final game on Saturday.
"I wanted to help the group and felt responsible for them. I realised I was the most senior guy here, so it would have been selfish to say no."
His coaching group, which included defence coach Matt Everard, assistant coaches Matt Smith, Brett Deacon and Danny Wilson, was cobbled together somewhat at the last minute, but has excelled.
"Wiggy has surprised me, to be honest," said Pollard. "To be thrown into the big job, it's not easy, and it's not for everyone. He just stepped up."
Wigglesworth is much more modest: "I've had so many coaches speak to me offering advice, particularly when times were tough.
"Stuff lands on your lap you had no idea existed. I've had an abnormal amount of help, because [being given a role mid-season] has never happened before, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it."
The former Sale and Saracens nine has also very subtly changed Leicester's game.
World Cup-winning fly-half Pollard has been key to Leicester's success
Tigers needed to vary things up - the style of play that won them the league wasn't working, with an early-season battering by Saracens demonstrating their inconsistency.
"We made a lot of subtle changes," says South Africa 10 Pollard. "It took a while to fall into place."
"To do the same thing as last season would have been stupid, teams worked us out."
Superstar World Cup-winning fly-half Pollard, who many feared might be a big-money flop after a slow start at Welford Road, has been central to recent successes.
His kicking and passing game, plus his control of proceedings, has been masterful.
"It just took a bit of time to get comfortable, I was coming back from injuries and needed to spend time with the lads to work out how we play," he added.
"I wanted to enjoy my rugby again, that's what I'm doing, and it's going well so far."
After those January defeats, club captain Hanro Liebenberg told Wigglesworth the captaincy was affecting his performances. In stepped bruising Argentina hooker Julian Montoya.
"You need to stick to a process, fighting for each other and keeping grinding, you will start to see what happens on the training pitch in a game," said Montoya, also the Los Pumas captain.
"It's about trust, hard work, and no excuses."
The fact that six of Leicester's final eight games were at Welford Road will have certainly helped them, as did their mid-season recruitment.
The addition of 37-year-old full-back Mike Brown, who was without a club, was inspired.
It was part of a 'dad's army', as they have jokingly been referred to, that saw players like 39-year-old Jimmy Gopperth and 36-year-old Chris Ashton thrive in the back line.
Former England star Brown has been a huge signing for Tigers
Signing players like ex-Wasps prop Tom West has also proved vital to a pivotal six-game winning run that has taken them to a semi-final.
But what is striking, speaking to the players and coaches at Tigers, is that none of them speak of a silver bullet, a moment things changed or a decision that turned the tide.
"I'd struggle to put my finger on it, to be honest," said back-rower Liebenberg.
"We came together as a group and said [a play-off place] was within our grasp. This season has brought so many challenges and disruptions, but we said we could get to the semi-final, and once we do that anything can happen."
Freddie Steward, the England and Leicester full-back, agreed: "It would have been easy for us to roll over, say it wasn't to be this season, but we came together and are now in a position where we can challenge for the title."
Tigers are underdogs against Sale at the AJ Bell Stadium on Sunday, but have set themselves up to defend their Premiership crown.
Whatever happens, this will be Wigglesworth's last hurrah at Tigers. He will join Borthwick and Sinfield with England at the end of this season, alongside Leicester's influential strength and conditioning coach Aled Walters and scrum coach Tom Harrison.
It is the end of a successful era for Tigers, with Australian Dan McKellar set to take over England's most successful club.
"We try and get better every week, we work hard. The players have been diligent, have gone after it and have had belief in the squad and what we can achieve," said Wigglesworth.
"Now we have to do what not many have done, and win an away semi-final."