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Concerns for Premiership big guns

Wednesday 20th August 2008

Harry Ellis: Struggling

Leicester Tigers and Glocuester, due to go head to head on the opening day of the Guinness Premiership in two weeks' time in a repeat of last season's semi-final, are both labouring as the season approaches.

The Tigers' problems are chiefly regarding injury, with several of their bigger-name players either out or struggling.

Lock Louis Deacon, England flanker Lewis Moody and Italian prop Martin Castrogiovanni are all out for at least two months, and centre Ayoola Erinle is likely to be out for four weeks with a groin injury.

Martin Corry (groin), Harry Ellis (knee), Dan Hipkiss (groin) and Geordan Murphy (knee), are all struggling as well, leaving coach Heyneke Meyer rather worried.

"We are not exactly where we want to be at this stage of the season," he said to the Leicester Mercury.

"Lewis Moody will be out for a few months, Erinle is probably going to be out for another six weeks and Louis Deacon is struggling with his back. He will probably be out for two to three months. We have sent him for new scans. We are a little bit worried about that.

"Castrogiovanni is also going to be out for another two months and Martin Corry has a groin injury but is progressing quite well.

"Harry Ellis is still struggling with his knee. Whenever he trains, there is still swelling in the knee so I am concerned about that.

"Hipkiss is not 100 per-cent and is struggling with a groin and Geordan Murphy has had a scope on his knee. We are a little bit thin and there are lots of guys struggling.

"But it's good that we had a look at the Academy kids in Biarritz to see what depth there was and I was impressed with what I saw. I am happy with the fitness and conditioning of the guys too. The skill levels were good in Biarritz and we scored some good tries."

Meanwhile, Gloucester succumbed to a disappointing 30-9 defeat to Bayonne in France on Tuesday, with coach Dean Ryan bemoaning his side's drop off the pace in the second half.

"For 50 minutes we were organised and played within the structure we had talked about. Our 9-0 lead could have been grown out even further but we then made two or three silly errors, missed a tackle here and there and our reaction to that was panicky," said Ryan to the club website.

"We had to try and create things we had not worked on and when you do that in France you get picked off. For 50 minutes it was pleasing but there can be no excuses for mistakes, whether you are a youngster in this environment for the first time or an experienced international.

"When you play for Gloucester it is about operating at a high level consistently and in that respect we should have been more competitive. But Bayonne are considerably further down the line than us in terms of preparation and we have never moved away from the fact that pre-season is about trying new players and new combinations.

"I would never offer that as an excuse because there are things to work on but we can move on from this and prepare for our next game."