Tigers working overtime to 'catch up' - Hudson

Leicester Tigers Women will begin their Premiership Women's Rugby campaign against defending champions Gloucester-Hartpury

Leicester Tigers will have to work overtime to make ground on established Premiership Women's Rugby clubs this season, according to head coach Tom Hudson.

Tigers finished bottom of the table in their debut campaign in the top flight last term.

As part of a coaching shake-up at Tigers, Hudson was elevated to head coach having worked on Vicky Macqueen's backroom staff before she left her role as head of women's rugby at the end of last season.

He said his focus with the team will be on "adapting" and "moving forward".

"We have to catch up," Hudson told BBC Radio Leicester.

"We have everything we need to hit the goals and achieve what we need for this season."

For Hudson, the most crucial part of Leicester's development will be their commitment to hard work.

"I walked into the gym yesterday and it was a bit of off time between the girls working in the gym and doing some rugby, and they were sat in a circle chatting, and I said, 'We don’t have the time here to chat in a circle,'" he added.

"We have other organisations who are putting day sessions on, we have organisations who are doing four times a week - we can't do just what they are doing.

"We can’t even even do 5% more, we have to find ourselves 15-20% better in every aspect. We haven’t got time to sit down and do nothing, we have got to catch up and build far quicker."

Leicester will begin their campaign against defending champions Gloucester-Hartpury on Sunday, 6 October.

On their trip to Kingsholm last season, Tigers were thrashed 52-14.

"What did we learn last year when we played away against the best team in the competition by a country mile, bordering on one of the best teams in the world?" Hudson said.

"We turned up and got bullied by the occasion. It was our first time away at the champions and bullied is the right word because once we got on the field we also got bullied in contact.

"We just looked like we were rabbits in the headlights, so we need to make sure we understand the occasion better this year so we can make the on-field [performance] better."