Fans of Leicester Tigers Women have not had a great deal to cheer about in the 2023/2024 Premiership Women’s Rugby season, with the team struggling to match the quality of the other sides during their maiden campaign in the division and finding it tough to pick up the results that they have been looking for.
Their mood will not have been helped by fellow new side Ealing Trailfinders Women adjusting to life much quicker and looking much more comfortable around the field, but there is no doubt when watching the Tigers in the last couple of matches that they are starting to find their feet and are showing what they can really bring to the league when in full flow.
This brief tactical analysis will look at what has been working so well for them in recent matches, with an analysis of their key tactics and how they have succeeded in breaking teams down in situations when they might have previously been shut out. The scout report will also point out those players who have been so central to their recent upturn in form.
The key thing to note about Leicester is that so much of their play is built around shifting the ball across the field at pace and trying to exploit the gaps in the wide areas as soon as they become available. In the win against fellow strugglers Sale Sharks Women, this was a major reason for them being able to secure their first victory in the league, with the ball being quickly recycled and fed along the line as each player teamed up to ensure that they could keep their attacks alive.
However, what was also clear to see was the individual anticipation of their major attacking threats, with playmaker Meg Jones running behind USA full-back Tess Feury here to offer the extra passing option and to ensure that Leicester could create the 2-v-1 against Sale’s own USA international in centre Eti Haungatau. Without this, it is likely that Feury would have struggled to get the ball beyond the Sharks’ line, but the fact that she could offload the pass when closed down meant that Leicester were able to score here, showing how important this ability to think expansively whenever they have had possession has been.
This is not to say that they can only move the ball wide through passing though, because there have been times when a more direct approach has been called for. In last week’s outing against defending champions Gloucester-Hartpury, Leicester knew that they would not be able to win as many collisions and so would need to rely on their kicking game to access the same spaces, and that too led to success as Scotland’s Francesca McGhie secured a try after the ball had arrived in her channel following a kick from the middle of the field. Therefore, the Tigers are adaptable to different circumstances, and that has been a key reason for their improvement in recent matches.
It should also be pointed out that they have shown a tendency to drive forward and to gain territory when they have had the ball in hand, with them looking to probe the opposing defensive lines in more central areas and to search for weak points that they can exploit.
This garnered a reasonable amount of success against Gloucester, with the defending champions struggling to contain them when they did try to move between their line. In this case, Canada lock Julia Omokhuale is the one looking to inflict damage and it would normally be expected that Gloucester would halt her advance here and would prevent her from moving any further towards the try line.
However, this move saw Omokhuale successfully attain another metre before being forced to the ground, and the fact that the next carry from USA back rower Tahlia Brody also pushed Gloucester back towards their own line shows how dangerous Leicester were when playing through the phases.
Gloucester would have drawn hope from the way that they managed to hold the Tigers off on these occasions, but the key point is that, in order to do so, they had needed to bring more players infield in order to better protect those central spaces. As a result, the wings had become more exposed, and it was that that allowed winger Amelia Tutt to successfully get over the line just moments after this.
Therefore, whilst it might seem like an insignificant detail to point out when remembering that Gloucester did manage to come back and take the win at Welford Road, what it shows is that, again, the Tigers have a clear game plan in mind and know what they want to do with the ball, and their full commitment to situations like this will only help them to keep growing and developing as the campaign goes on.
However, whilst there is no doubt that Leicester’s improved performances have come down to the whole team working together, there are some individual players who deserve a mention. One of those is the aforementioned Jones, who has been phenomenal for Leicester this season and who, whilst not the team captain, has really led from the front in everything that they have done well.
What Vicky Macqueen’s side have really benefitted from is her versatility, with her capable of playing at fly-half or at centre (she has mainly been used at outside centre this season) and therefore capable of both launching attacks and of finishing them off. In this case, her quick thinking and agility is what catches the eye most of all, with her taking a penalty rapidly through a tap-and-go and running directly into the space ahead of her, getting into Sale’s territory before they have had a chance to organise themselves into a coherent defensive shape.
At that point, the Tigers had the advantage, but there were still obstacles that needed to be negotiated if they were to get their full reward here. This was again where Jones showed her quality, with her holding onto the ball until the last minute before releasing fellow centre Claire Gallagher to run through and to score the try, with Sharks winger Hollie Bawden unable to get across in time due to her being forced to commit to closing Jones down as a result of her delayed pass.
It has not all been positive for Leicester, with areas such as their defending still needing some tightening up as the games go on, but there is no doubt that they have shown in their last two performances enough fight and desire to prove to any doubters that they do belong in the division. It does now appear that the patience shown by those in the stands is gradually being rewarded, and, whilst they have been hit by a five-point penalty by the Rugby Football Union (along with Sale), it will be interesting to see just how far they can go between now and the end of the campaign.