England great reveals Eddie Jones’ pick for Leicester’s new boss and stresses the ‘bigger loss’ than Handre Pollard
Ben Kay assesses Leicester Tigers' head coach targets and reveals who he believes to be a bigger loss to the team than Handre Pollard.
Rugby World Cup winner Ben Kay reckons either Graham Rowntree or Paul Gustard would prove a fine successor to Michael Cheika at Leicester Tigers.
Cheika, one of the most respected figures in world rugby, will step down as head coach when his contract expires at the end of the season.
The 57-year-old took the job last summer on a one-year deal after being appointed just a week after fellow Australian Dan McKellar left by mutual consent.
Leicester, who face a crunch derby at Northampton on Friday night and have reached the last 16 of the European Champions Cup, are now looking for their ninth new head coach in less than nine years.
Michael Cheika’s successor
The Tigers are understood to have already spoken to celebrated former Leicester prop and ex-Munster head coach Rowntree as a potential replacement.
Gustard, another Leicester old-boy and highly-respected coach, has also been strongly linked with the role along with ex-England boss Stuart Lancaster.
TNT Sports | Watch TNT Sports on discovery+ pundit Kay, a serial winner during his glorious playing career at Leicester, told Planet Rugby: “It’s still a bit up in the air.
“I think Leicester would very much have wanted Michael Cheika to be there next year as well.
“But he’s moving on and potentially they might be speaking to him about how he can assist with whoever is coming in as the next head coach.
“They obviously haven’t announced who is going to succeed Cheika just yet and it’s a really tough role for whoever does come in there.
“There are rumours about Paul Gustard coming back.
“Graham Rowntree is a good friend of mine and an unbelievable human being who knows Leicester inside out, as does Gussy.
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“Stuart Lancaster has been mentioned as well, but I spoke to Eddie Jones before the rumour about Gussy was out.
“Eddie was very much saying ‘Leicester should speak to Paul Gustard’ and is a big, big advocate of Gussy.
“But I don’t think it’s solely about who the head coach is – it’s about the whole system and everyone pulling in the right direction.
“The tools that a head coach is given can make all the difference.
“I’d like to think that they know who they’re going to go with already because otherwise you’re doing all your recruitment a little bit blind.
“I love Gussy and I love Wig (Rowntree) and I’d give them my full backing if either of them got the job.
“But could I tell you who would be better? Probably not.”
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Another transition on the horizon
Kay warned that it would not be plain sailing for the man who does succeed Cheika as he faces up to the challenge of managing expectations at arguably English rugby’s biggest club.
Kay said: “The year Leicester won the title under Steve Borthwick, in 2021-22, they probably exceeded their expectations and almost over-delivered.
“The fans probably thought ‘We’re fully back and everything is hunky-dory’.
“But they probably won the title a year earlier than they might have expected to.
“Having said that, they are another team with massive quality in their side, so they should be performing at a high level. This is Leicester Tigers.”
Kay warned Tigers fans to brace themselves for another period of transition with hugely influential fly-half Handre Pollard and club captain Julian Montoya set to depart.
“They’re big, big personalities to replace and I personally think Montoya is the bigger loss,” said Kay.
“However, they have replaced him with probably best available candidate in England in Jamie Blamire from Newcastle Falcons.
“For all the money they could use from Pollard’s salary, they need to replace him with someone who can absolutely get the best out of everyone around him. That’s going to be really interesting.”
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