Wales flanker backed to become one of world’s best number sevens after hat-trick showing

Leicester Tigers head coach Dan McKellar labelled Wales international Tommy Reffell “outstanding” after his three-try showing in their 47-3 victory over Newcastle Falcons.

The Falcons were brushed aside by a superior Leicester outfit as they remain winless in the league this campaign with just four bonus points accrued by the strugglers thus far.

Wales back-row Reffell was Leicester’s hero with the aforementioned hat-trick while Matt Scott, Jasper Wiese, Ollie Hassell-Collins and Mike Brown also got over for tries.

Wants to be world’s best seven

“Since he has come back from the World Cup, he has been outstanding and is challenging himself to be one of the best number sevens in the world,” McKellar said of his in-form flanker after the Premiership game at Welford Road.

“If he continues to progress, there is no doubt that he is likely to achieve that.”

Leicester‘s bonus-point win was achieved despite difficult conditions and Australian McKellar hailed his team for how they executed in what was a comfortable result.

“It was tough conditions for the boys out there and indeed for the supporters,” he said.

“It was a good day at the office but the boys certainly had to dig in hard to defend their line.

“In the conditions, we didn’t really want the ball but Newcastle have scored a lot of points in their games so keeping them out today was impressive as our defence is a real weapon for us.

“Another plus was that we were able to empty our bench quite early and so able to give the likes of Tom Whiteley and Jamie Shillcock valuable game time.

“It was a slow start to the season with results not going our way but slowly but surely we are building momentum.”

In contrast, Newcastle head coach Alex Codling couldn’t hide his frustration at full-time and felt his side lacked the quality and size to compete with a star-filled Leicester team.

A tough watch for Codling

“They had a very strong side with 14 internationals out there and they do the basics very well,” he said.

“I can’t fault our efforts but it was a tough watch and the final score was hard to take.

“When we lose momentum, we can’t seem to get it back but the conditions really suited them today.

“They are so strong around the area of ruck and maul so we lost the arm-wrestle and it was clearly a one-sided game.”

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