He's not the Messiah... he's a very naughty boy

Billy Twelvetrees is 23-years-old, the age where youthful potential starts to develop into established ability. At 6’3” and weighing just under 16st, he is the embodiment of the modern-day back, with the power to play crash-ball in the midfield but also the guile to create a line break. His pass puts most scrum-halves to shame and is as accurate as a sniper rifle. Though naturally a centre, he can also credibly call himself a fly-half with a better percentage success rate from the tee this season than the England fly-half and a huge boot from hand.

On the field he is a quiet, unassuming character; off it, interviewers reinforce that as they speak of an articulate, humble young man. He also has natural advantages: a rascal’s forename that sits next to an enigmatic surname; rugged good looks, and; wavy blond hair…

Source: Matthew Lewis / Getty Images (courtesy of Zimbio) 

Though he rose to prominence as a 20-year-old with a remarkable man-of-the-match performance against the Ospreys in a 32-32 draw back in 2009, since that date he has, on occasion, stumbled on the big occasion (Saracens' 15-14 win at Welford Road last season). He can be dependent on those around him running creative lines. He is not a quick-thinking attacker in the mould of Toby Flood or Geordan Murphy, working best when he has time to think. His defensive play was circumspect on introduction to the first team but has since improved considerably.

This is the player that Leicester Tigers have lost to Gloucester for next season. Many Leicester fans saw such promise in Twelvetrees that they dubbed him ‘The Messiah’ and prophesised about just how good this kid could be, how he and his club-mate Manu Tuilagi could form the national team’s centre pairing for years to come. A scan through threads on the official club website’s Fans Forum from the past few years will reveal derision of Richard Cockerill each time he picks players like Jeremy Staunton or Anthony Allen ahead of Twelvetrees.

This week, the Chairman of the away supporters club, John Griffiths, played down Twelvetrees’ departure. Griffiths said, “I feel he has yet to demonstrate that he is a star player in the making,” adding, “I don’t think he is as good as Anthony Allen.” This is the crux of Twelvetrees’ problem: many believe he has the potential to be a star player, but he has spent all of his time at Leicester behind someone else: Anthony Allen at centre and Toby Flood and Jeremy Staunton at fly-half. Injury has allowed him several runs in the first team but none have changed his standing in Richard Cockerill’s eyes.

Yet just nine months ago, Stuart Barnes dedicated his entire weekly column on the Sky Sports website to lavishing praise on Twelvetrees after Leicester’s barmy 41-41 draw with Gloucester. Barnes acknowledged that Allen is, “The most dependable of club men,” praising the speed with which he pressurise defenders and his, “Organisational excellence.” But of Twelvetrees, Barnes said, “[He] is potentially another class altogether… this inexperienced young man has nearly every aspect of the game required to become the international centre England would die for.”

Leicester Tigers can provide numerous recent examples of developing young players to an international standard (Dan Cole, Ben Youngs, Manu Tuilagi) but this one has passed them by. Twelvetrees’ style has become more orthodox as his career at Welford Road has progressed, to the point where he has started to resemble, dare I say it, the man he will be replacing at Gloucester: Mike Tindall. The creativity and dangerous step have been replaced by hard carrying and endeavour; playing from centre his huge boot has almost never been used.

Just what happened to the Messiah? Twelvetrees may have had to sharpen up his defensive game but that does not account for the blunting of his attacking game; to a certain extent the former is nurtured, the latter is nature. The conclusion, it seems, is that over the last 2½ years a combination of coaching and tactics have moulded this natural talent with an unusually wide skill-set into the image of a typical Leicester Tigers back.

Fitting the mould of England’s most successful club is not, on the surface of it, such a bad thing. But even the most ardent Leicester fan would accept that the teams of the last decade have not been renowned for their inspiring backs play. The qualities that are revered at Leicester are endeavour, dependability and commitment; that is why the likes of Anthony Allen, Matt Smith, Horacio Agulla and Scott Hamilton have succeeded. Allen went through this transformation after his move from Gloucester and Twelvetrees has had to do the same.

So in an essence, John Griffiths is right. Twelvetrees isn’t as good as Anthony Allen - in what Leicester demand from a centre. But if allowed to exploit his undoubted natural talents, who knows how far he could go. He is as close to Sonny Bill Williams as England are likely to get.

Dropping Twelvetrees into the Gloucester midfield as the pivot around which Freddie Burns, Henry Trinder, Johnny May, Charlie Sharples and Ollie Morgan can display their precocious talents is an exciting prospect for the Kingsholm faithful and may give him the stage to showcase his potential. What a shame it is that Welford Road could never be that stage.