Tigers have faced Leinster and both possible opponents in the final eight. “Something is wrong… you have pools for a little variety,” a player said.
Before Leicester’s rugby director, Dan McKellar, makes his team’s last-16 trip to play Leinster in Dublin, he has questioned the structure of this year’s Champions Cup.
The teams that the winners play in the quarterfinals next week are La Rochelle and the Stormers, who both faced the Tigers in the pool stage this season.
This season, Leicester has already faced a formidable Leinster team full of Irish internationals who have won Six Nations titles, and McKellar would prefer to see fewer instances of déjà vu in the future.
“Someone has not done their homework when they were organizing the competition,” stated McKellar, who is still in his first year as Leicester’s coach.
“We are heading to France or South Africa next week to play the Stormers or La Rochelle, I thought to myself while driving this morning. That seems too familiar. Something is not quite right. That is the entire purpose of having pools—to provide some variation.
However, things are as they are. This week, we have a game in Dublin against Leinster. Since I do not think many people are rooting for us to win, we will go over there with the intention of causing a stir. They have earned the right to host it at home,” McKellar revealed.
Leinster are heavy favorites to make it to the final eight, which is not surprising considering Leicester has not defeated the Irish province in the Champions Cup in 16 years. However, McKellar says his team will be more difficult to beat than some think.
They are an excellent rugby team, on par with teams on the international stage, but we will go over there with the goal of upsetting them because they are a living, breathing unit.
“Remember from our recent game? We were down 10-0 after 20 minutes, then Joe McCarthy scored a try from a double movement, or whatever you want to call it. We were heavily penalized, and suddenly the score was 10-10.
We will derive a great deal of confidence from our prolonged dominance.
