Enough about Owen Farrell... what does the new EPS mean for Leicester Tigers?

The sporting press have been covering every inch of the 32-man Elite Player Squad that was announced yesterday, so rather than debate the merits and weaknesses of Stuart Lancaster’s squad, From The Crumbie Terrace will consider what all this means for Leicester Tigers...

Source: Getty Images (courtesy of The Guardian)

Leicester will lose Dan Cole, Geoff Parling, Tom Croft, Ben Youngs, Toby Flood and Manu Tuilagi for the RBS Six Nations, though the latter two will depend on fitness. Martin Castrogionvanni will definitely be included in the Italy squad and there is an outside chance that Geordan Murphy will make the Ireland squad.

Leicester fans, with the disastrous World Cup period fresh in their memories, will no doubt be anxious about how the team will fare during this period. The spine of Richard Cockerill’s team will miss games against Exeter (A), Saracens (A), Newcastle (H) and Gloucester (H). Exeter and Newcastle

Leicester are much better placed to continue their recent good form this time around. They are banking on a Samoan who has played roughly the same number of minutes in the Aviva Premiership as he has international caps, the fitness of Ben Morgan and Chris Robshaw and the curse of the centres not to strike again.

Front-row


During the World Cup, the tight-head side of the scrum was a liability; the emphasis was on 20-year-old rookie Kieran Brookes, who struggled before picking up an injury, and loanee Michael Holford. This time, Cockerill will be banking on Logovi'i Mulipola, who at 24, with 6 caps for Samoa and with 20 stones behind him, should be better placed to take on Rhys Gill and Nick Wood, so as not to rely on Julian White for anything more than impact substitutions. Marcos Ayerza will smell blood for the visit of Newcastle, who will be without their one genuinely top-class scrummager in Euan Murray.

Second-row

In the second row, George Skivington will have the choice of two partners: Ed Slater has been on a consistently upwards curve since the start of the season and Graham Kitchener, who, though limited to only a handful of appearances, made a huge impression running the lineout against SALE. The presence of Julian Salvi, Thomas Waldrom and Steve Mafi as jumpers should mean Leicester still have enough options in the air. They will hope to keep operating their lineout as successfully as they have been doing recently; Saracens and Gloucester will feel the absence of Mouritz Botha and Jim Hamilton respectively, though the promising George Kruis stands by for the champions.

Back-row

In Steve Mafi, Leicester have an almost like-for-like replacement for Tom Croft. Craig Newby's possible return to full fitness by February will be welcomed as Ben Pienaar and Richard de Carpentier are generally considered to be A League players. Thomas Waldrom must surely be 1st reserve for the Senior squad and as the top ball carrier by a country mile for Leicester this season he would be irreplaceable if injuries elsewhere secured him a promotion. Again, Leicester can expect full strength opponents in this area as Exeter's Saxons squad member Tom Johnson will have to do some queue jumping to take advantage of any Senior squad injuries.

Scrum-half

Sam Harrison has been rivalling Ed Slater for the title of most improved player of the season and with England Saxon Micky Young also likely to be available, the no.9 jersey will be in good hands. Gloucester, without Scotland's Rory Lawson, can still rely on Dave Lewis.

Fly-half / Centre

It is at fly-half that there are the most question marks. If enough centres can keep fit then Billy Twelvetrees, trusted in the biggest game of the season so far away at Ulster, can continue in the no.10 shirt. But if injuries or promotions affect Saxons Twelvetrees and Anthony Allen or their fellow centre Matt Smith, then Cockerill will need to do some serious reshuffling. Jeremy Staunton or George Ford wait in the wings. Both players have, through circumstances beyond their control, been associated with most of Leicester's losses this season. Saracens will be stripped of their prized assets of Owen Farrell, Charlie Hodgson and Brad Barritt and with a scrum-half injury crisis to match, Peter Stringer and Nils Mordt could form an unlikely partnership. Gloucester will be that little blunter without Charlie Sharples and Henry Trinder.

Full-back

Finally, at full-back Cockerill has a choice between Scott Hamilton, whose form has been patchy this season, and joint top try scorer Niall Morris. Unlike during the World Cup period, they can be supported by the ever reliable Horacio Agulla and the other joint top try scorer, Alex Tuilagi. Saracens, without David Strettle and Alex Goode in their depleted back line, will surely not let the ball out of the hands of their imposing pack of forwards for these few weeks.