Geoff Parling: Have Leicester Tigers found their long-term head coach?

Parling’s introduction was, as he described, a “whirlwind”.

He left the final Lions Test as Australia forwards coach on the Sunday and was coaching Tigers by the Wednesday. The unpacking of boxes in his new home, I discovered last week, still hasn’t been fully completed.

He set about changing the way Leicester played, along with attack coach Pete Hewat.

Inspired by watching Aussie Rules during his time down under, he prioritised kicking accuracy, asking players to try to catch the ball above their head under the high ball.

Before last week’s round of action, they had the most kicks in play and kicked the most metres in the league.

More than that, though, was the sense that Leicester have been entertaining to watch.

Fans at Mattioli Woods Welford Road are used to entertainment by bulldozer. Grit, character and, above all else, victory. They have seen 11 English titles and two European Cups, but the Tigers brand was never based on beauty.

Now, they are playing with fluidity. Marshalled by Billy Searle at 10 (more on him later), and backed up by lightning-quick wings Adam Radwan and Ollie Hassell-Collins, they are now confident to throw the ball wide and play from deep in their own territory.

“We’ve never seen Leicester do this,” said Tom Varndell, a former Tigers wing and BBC Radio Leicester summariser. “They are playing with freedom; they are backing their skills.

“Under Geoff Parling, they’ve got a licence to play heads-up rugby. You need a good set-piece and forward dominance, but behind that, they needed more. It’s like looking at a completely different team.”

That’s not to say Tigers haven’t lost that nastiness that has defined them. Their pack is still brutish, highlighted by a punishing takedown of rivals Northampton Saints last month.

It was even demonstrated in Parling’s somewhat controversial viral moment earlier this season, when he told TNT presenters their behaviour “wasn’t on”, but in much more fruity terms, when a ball was kicked near the players during their pre-match warm-up.

It highlighted Leicester still have their edge, but there’s more depth to their approach.

“I think it’s pretty clear that there’s an intent to be more expansive and more accurate,” Tigers and England full-back Freddie Steward told BBC Radio Leicester.

“The traditional DNA is gritty, tight rugby. We still have that, but we have tried to add an attacking mindset to that.”

Possibly the biggest change over the summer was not the coaching team but a loss of leadership.

Veteran Argentina hooker Julian Montoya, double World Cup-winning South Africa fly-half Handre Pollard, and club legends Ben Youngs and Dan Cole – numbers one and two on the all-time England appearances list – were among the players to depart, either for pastures new or into retirement.

Tigers saw over 500 international caps depart in total. More than that, though, the exiting players were the team’s leaders.

A member of the coaching staff told me, in September, that they were unsure if there were leaders in the new-look team.

They needn’t have worried.

Step forward the Class of 2019 (as nobody calls them). Players like Steward, Jack van Poortvliet, and club captain Ollie Chessum. All of them came through the academy at the same time and have now become the backbone of the team.

“It is a really young squad,” said 26-year-old Cameron Henderson, another who is part of their new leadership group. “It blew my mind when someone said I was above the average age of the squad.

“We’ve had to roll with it and step up; it’s been a really fun part [of the season] to mould the team around what we want. We’re leading the team and pushing it forward.”