Leicester Tigers

Last season's finish: 2nd (runner-up)

Head coach: Geoff Parling

Captain: Ollie Chessum

Star player: Ollie Chessum

Star signing: James O'Connor

Young player to watch: Joseph Woodward

Leicester came painfully close to achieving the ultimate domestic success last season when they lost a tight final to Bath at Twickenham. Since then, there has been massive upheaval at the club. Michael Cheika became the latest head coach to leave Leicester after a short stay, despite having a successful season. The Australian opted to return home where he will be an assistan coach for the Sydney Roosters in the NRL. There has also been a mass exodus of experience within the playing squad. The club's captain, Julian Montoya, left at the end of last season and so did 2-time World Cup winner Handre Pollard. Ben Youngs and Dan Cole both retired with Cole joining the club in a recruitment role. 

The new head coach is the former Leicester player, Geoff Parling. The Englishman had been working for Joe Schmidt with the Wallabies, and stayed for the entirety of the Lions Tour, so he joined the team later than most would've liked. It may take a while for him to get up to speed, but at least the change wasn't made just a week before the season like it was in West London. Apart from the change in head coach, Leicester now enter a new era of players which is symbolised by Ollie Chessum being given the captaincy. Handre Pollard leaving also indicates a potential change in style of play with James O'Connor signing in his place. O'Connor will be arriving even later than Parling due to playing in the Bledisloe Cup for the Wallabies. 

The Tigers have also made a couple of astute signings to replace these big-name players. Jamie Blamire is a proven player at the Premiership level and has also been around the England set-up intermittently over the past few years. He will be a reliable presence in a front row that is still of an international standard. Nicky Smith will start at loosehead prop, Blamire will start at hooker, and Joe Heyes will play at loosehead. Leicester also have good depth behind those 3. Tarek Haffar signed from Northampton this summer and is developing into an international-calibre prop. Charlie Clare will continue his role as a 2nd-string hooker in which he impressed last season. Tonga Kofe is an imposing figure at tighthead prop, and just signed for the club from the Utah Warriors in Major League Rugby. The USA Eagle is 6'2 and weighs 142kg. He started out playing American football and has since developed into an impressive rugby player. For context about his weight, Joe Heyes is 1 inch taller than Kofe but weighs 16Kg less than the American.

Behind the front row, Leicester have an array of internationals such as: Ollie Chessum, George Martin and Tommy Reffell. Chessum has been named as the new captain and, when both are fit, will combine with Martin to form the strongest lock partnership in the country. The quality of the back row will be decided by the development of a couple of young players. Emeka Ilione has already made a name for himself with his try-scoring exploits when he came off the bench in games last season.Fin Carndruff has been widely tipped for massive success in his career and this looks like it could be the season that he makes his break through. Lewis Chessum, Ollie's younger brother, has been developing nicely due to loan spells at Nottingham and Sagamihara Dyna Boars. At 22-years-old, now is the time for him to step into the 1st team properly.

The half back situation will be decisive in determining Leicester's success this season. Ben Young's departure leaves a gap that will have to be filled by Tom Whiteley with no obvious signing being made at the position. Jack va Poortvliet, meanwhile, will continue to start at scrum half. He will, eventually, be joined by James O'Connor, who is a very different type of fly half to Handre Pollard. O'Connor likes to play with more flair and invention than his Tigers predecessor so his style could take some time to adapt to Leicester's route one attacking style. Orlando Bailey has been signed to replace the departing Jamie Shillcock and he will deputise for O'Connor. Bailey will likely start the season at fly half whilst O'Connor plays for Australia. Bailey can also play at fullback which provides cover for Freddie Steward when he is away with England now that Mike Brown has also left.

Outside of O'Connor, Leicester have plenty of firepower. Radwan joined from Newcastle during the 2024/25 season and took little time to make an impact alongside Steward and Hassell-Collins. In the centres, Dan Kelly has left to head to Ireland having been phased out of the team due to the emergence of Woodward at inside centre. Geoff Parling will also have Solomona Kata and Izaia Perese at his disposal to use as electric battering rams throughout the season.

This is a strong squad with plenty of quality that will have to weather the storm of change in order to get their season going. If they do that, watch out for this team in the latter stages of the season.

Notable ins:

Jamie Blamire - Tarek Haffar - James O'Connor

Notable outs:

Julian Montoya - Dan Kelly - Handre Pollard - Ben Youngs - Dan Cole

Squad

(including some senior academy players)

Hooker

Jamie Blamire - Charlie Clare - John Stewart - FInn Theobald-Thomas

Prop

Diamond Ayiehfor - Joe Heyes - Archie Van der Flier - Tarek Haffar - Will Hurd - Tonga Kofe - Cameron Miell - Tabuna Maka - Bronson Mellowes - Nicky Smith

Lock

Lewis Chessum - Ollie Chessum - Cameron Henderson - Tom Manz - George Martin - Harry Wells - James Thompson

Back row

Fin Carnduff - Olly Cracknell - Emeke Ilione - Hanro Liebenberg - Monty Loggenberg - George Marsh - Josh Manz - Joaquin Moro - Tommy Reffell - Sam Williams

Scrum half

Ollie Allan - Charlie Bemand - Jack Van Poortvliet - Tom Whiteley

Fly half

Orlando Bailey - James O'Connor - Billy Searle - Charlie Titcombe - Tom Threlfall

Centre

Charlie Davies - Solomone Kata - Wild McCarthy - Charlie Myall - Izaia Perese - Will Wand - Joseph Woodward

Wing

Gabriel Hamer-Webb - Ollie Hassell-Collins - Jack Kinder - George Pearson - Adam Radwan

Fullback 

Freddie Steward

Possible XV and bench

1.Nicky Smith 2.Jamie Blamire 3.Joe Heyes 4.Ollie Chessum 5.George Martin 

6.Hanro Liebenberg 7.Tommy Reffell 8.Olly Cracknell 9.Jack Van Poortvliet 10.James O'Connor

11.Ollie Hassell-Collins 12.Joseph Woodward 13.Solomone Kata 14.Adam Radwan 15.Freddie Steward

Bench

16.Charlie Clare 17.Tarek Haffar 18.Tonga Kofe 19.Cameron Henderson

20.Emeka Ilione 21.Tom Whiteley 22.Orlando Bailey 23.Izaia Perese