Allen: We want more success
Anthony Allen of the Leicester Tigers has said that the taste of success is still lingering in the dressing room and the team want more of the same this season.
Leicester secured the Premiership title last season after dominating the league for large spells of the year. Lewis Moody has now left the club but Allen says there is still enough quality left for the team to do well in the new season.
Success in professional sport can be highly addictive and Leicester will have to cope with a great deal of added pressure this season. Teams are going to be doing extra homework on the Tigers and they will not have it all of their own way.
Leicester are in very good shape ahead of the new campaign. They have a lot of good young players who are bound to do well. However, they will have to cope with stronger challenges from a number of other clubs who have already stated their intentions to take the title away from Leicester.
A good young squad
Leicester have a very good young squad that mixes in nicely with the experience of the older players. These are all young players that will feel they have a point to prove and they will want success for more than one year at a time.
The likes of Allen himself, Toby Flood and Ben Youngs all have plenty of playing years ahead of them. They have all been involved at international level with England and they will all be fighting for regular places in the Leicester team. This encourages healthy competition and keeps everyone on their toes.
The experience of slightly older players like Ben Woods ensures that the young players in the team will be kept in place. This is very important because young players can get carried away with the adrenaline rush of a high paced game, which leaves gaps in the defence.
Allen said: "It was obviously a dream to win the title with Leicester during my first year here and, with the Saxons, we had a really good squad and there was a certain amount of pressure on us which was good. It's rare that you get only three weeks to put together a team and, in that respect, we did very well."
A stronger challenge
There will be a much stronger challenge from other clubs in the new Premiership season and this is something that Leicester will have to deal with.
Bath have stated that they are in a better position than ever before to try and win the Premiership. Sale have a brand new squad filled with quality and the likes of Saracens and Northampton will always be somewhere towards the top of the table.
Allen added: "I played a lot of rugby for Leicester which was something I was not expecting. I still feel like I have to prove myself and get back in the team this year because it is a new season and you are only as good as your last game. That's the way I am. Even if I am in the team, I want to improve all the time."
Betting advice
If you're a Leicester supporter or someone who just fancies backing the team then you can be very confident ahead of the new season. Unlike many other teams the Leicester squad has stayed quite similar with only a few players coming in. They should get off to a good start and if all of their young players fulfil on their talent then snap up any odds you can get your hands on.
Catt backs Armitage
London Irish backs coach Mike Catt has backed Delon Armitage to dominate the Premiership when the new season starts.
Catt is in the ideal position to help guide Armitage back to his best after a disappointing Premiership season last year and the failure of the player to make an impression on the England team over recent matches.
Armitage has scored a total of 34 points during 15 England caps and 116 points during 57 appearances for London Irish. These are statistics that Catt says must get better and will get better once the season starts.
Armitage is one of the most exciting players to watch in English rugby at the moment. However, countries and clubs have found a way to play against him and mute his influence. He's got to re-invent himself to get the intimidation back that he possessed when he first broke into the England team.
His game
Armitage is one of the quickest players around and this is one of the main reasons why he has scored so many points. It makes him very difficult to play against and makes him a target for big defensive players in the opposition to attack.
The problem with this is that it creates the ongoing threat of injury because there will always be players looking to launch in to tackles in order to bring him down.
This is a style that many teams have adopted to try and stop him from scoring points. Teams have also been able to work out tactically where he is on the pitch most frequently. All of these things combined means that Armitage has been stopped from scoring regular high volumes of points and he has been in and out of the England team since.
Catt said: "Delon has been through a h**l of a lot; being the best thing since sliced bread for England, being injured, then coming back and losing his Test place. All of us in the game have gone through those kinds of situations but in Delon's case it has all been in a seven-month period."
Time for some re-invention
It is time for Armitage to re-invent himself so he is ready to hit the ground running when the Premiership begins at the start of September. This is how he will grab attention and get noticed by the people who have a say whether he plays for his country.
There are different ways that he can go about this but he has to add an extra string to his bow. Using the opposite attack tactics that he is familiar with would be an obvious start.
Catt added: "I am not making any excuses for him because he should have bounced back sooner. But I can tell you that he has just had a fantastic week in France with the squad for pre‑season. Delon is mature enough to take on the kind of role Peter had while enjoying himself with the ball in his hands."
Betting advice
Armitage has the ability to be a very explosive player and if London Irish are going to have a good season this year then the winger and full-back will need to play very well. Have a punt on him being top scorer at the club by the end of the season.
If he does get his England place back over the course of the season then also back him to score well at international level. He has all of the ability needed and his statistics prove this. The problem is that he needs to find a slightly new way of playing. If you don't see this early on then back off from betting on him as he may not produce the results you expect.
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