Jono Kitto: Watch out, Tigers’ new midfield will be tasty!
Tuilagi missed England‘s summer tour to Australia with a hamstring injury, but Kitto reckons the 25-year-old centre looks a million dollars in pre-season training as Tigers’ rapidly-improving attack takes shape ahead of the new campaign.
Kitto told The Rugby Paper: “Manu’s going great and we’re looking forward to seeing him donning the colours and tearing up the paddock again.
“He is one of the very best midfielders in the world. He’s proven that countless times in games he’s played for England before – and in terms of ball-carrying and his ability to break the line and put other people into space – I can’t think of anyone better.
“You’d struggle to find anyone more dynamic and with the arrival of Matt Toomua (below) and the other guys already here, I wouldn’t want to be picking our backline next season because there are two or three top-quality guys in each position.
“Matt’s going to bring some real class and our midfield is stacked with talent. “This whole Leicester squad is as strong as it’s ever been and it’s a pretty exciting time to be here. We can’t wait to see what we can put out in the Premiership.”
Leicester ended last season as the Premiership’s joint-fourth highest try-scorers with 55 touchdowns, but lagged behind free-scoring Wasps and Exeter, who bagged 71 apiece.
Kitto reckons Aaron Mauger’s second year as head coach will see their output soar, though, adding:
“When a new coach comes in it can take a good few months to adapt, but the majority of our squad have been with Aaron a year now.
“That can only mean good things and if the new signings can slot straight in, hopefully we can show people what this Tigers backline can do.
“The way world rugby is going, if you’re not trying to score tries you’ll fall behind. Saracens are maybe not so expansive, but gone are the days now when a good kicking strategy alone will win you games.
“The tempo of games is getting ridiculously quick and, as skill-sets grow, you’ve seen teams like Wasps and Exeter being shining examples last year of the way the Premiership is going, and I hope that will continue moving forward.
“We scored some pretty outstanding tries as well last season and there was good growth in that area of our game that we hope will continue.”
Former Bay of Plenty man Kitto, 24, is looking to build on a solid first Premiership season as understudy to England star Ben Youngs.
He said: “I got to pull on the jersey 15 times which was pleasing, but I’m a pretty competitive individual and want to see how far I can go now. It’s tough with Ben and Sam Harrison around but it’s just up to me to play well.
“As a team, we were disappointed with how we finished last season by losing two semi-finals in which we didn’t reach our potential, so a huge motivation now is to get to finals and win them – and we know we have that ability.”
NEALE HARVEY
