No hard feelings as SRU reject Scott Steele shows his mettle among the Tiger cubs

NEVER mind the aesthetics, just sit back and admire their success. Leicester Tigers have won more Premiership titles than any other club (eight and counting) and they will be hoping to add to that number next Saturday at Twickenham, writes Iain Morrison. The Midlands giants take on the surprise package of the season, Harlequins, in an Aviva final that promises to be a contrast in styles.

If Quins can blunt Leicester’s power then they have the all-round attacking game to trouble anyone but it’s a big ask. With the timing of a thoroughbred, Richard Cockerill’s side have made a run on the rails and are firm favourites after winning 11 straight matches in all competitions including a 43-33 victory over next Saturday’s opponents at the Stoop.

There are no Scots involved but at least one young lad from Dumfries will be watching the game on television after getting plastered – in a manner of speaking. Scott Steele broke his leg a couple of weeks ago in the very last game of the season, although he is too honest to claim that a fractured fibula is all that stands between him and an appearance at Twickenham.

The apprentice scrum-half is probably fifth in the Tigers’ pecking order but he still managed two first team appearances this season and another two games where he sat on the bench, including a key Aviva match against Saracens and the LV= Cup final.

“Ben Youngs was away on international duty with England,” says Steele, reeling off the competition one by one. “Micky Young was banned I think. Sam Harrison had an injury so it was just me and James Grindal left. I got 13 minutes against Newcastle in the league and I came on at the death in an LV game against Bath. It was pretty scary to be honest.”

With so many front-line scrummies missing in action, Cockerill resisted the temptation to sign Peter Stringer as cover, instead putting his faith in the youngster.

“If Scott has to play, he has been really good for us,” said the Leicester coach in the same week he selected Steele to sit on the Tigers’ bench. “He has played some cameo roles for the second team and we picked him up when the Scottish regions were not picking him. He came down on trial and did really well in the second team. The lad will have to step up and have a crack and I know he is not shy of having a go.”

While 15 minutes of first team action for Leicester may not appear the stuff of legend, it was quite an achievement given that Steele was playing schoolboy rugby just last season. While he was in the SRU’s system he was told that they didn’t see him making the next step up and he was released one year ago. Rather than mope he lined up a season with Watsonians but, egged on by Corey Venus, a Scotland age-group exile buddy from Leicester, he wrote off to the Tigers on the off-chance. He was invited to play in the pre-season JP Morgan sevens at Sale and was impressive enough to merit a one-year academy deal.

“I thought that I might as well give it a shot,” he remembers. “It’s been a good option to come down here because I wasn’t going to get offered a professional contract in Scotland. I have no grudge against the SRU, they made their decision and you just have to get on with it, there are no hard feelings.”

Steele turned out for the first two matches in the Scotland under-20 Six Nations team before being called back to the English Midlands to take his place in the Tigers’ matchday squad. He is still young enough to play for the under-20s again next year and, if selected, he will do so as a fully fledged Leicester Tiger. Cockerill was sufficiently impressed to offer the Scot a proper, full-time, professional, two-year contract which he signed back in March.

“He is obviously an intimidating kind of guy,” says Steele of the Tigers coach, “but, as soon as I made the squad, he was very, very helpful in making me feel a part of things rather than just an apprentice. He was really good but so were all the players, they made me very welcome.”

So, underneath all that aggression, Richard Cockerill has a heart of gold! It sounds about as probable as an 18-year-old Scottish reject turning out for England’s premier club.