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Leicester Tigers scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet admits watching tricky East Midland rivals Northampton The Saints dancing around Twickenham, celebrating winning the Gallagher Prem, left a bitter aftertaste.
Especially after the Saints beat them 45-31 in the PREM semi-final to book their place in the showpiece, but England Star says the Tigers, who won the PREM Rugby Cup last season, will be chasing that winning feeling themselves this season.
Van Poortvliet, 25, who is in the final year of his contract at Welford Road, believes the Tigers have the squad to challenge for honors again this season, which starts against Saracens at the end of the month. “If you see someone lift the Prem, especially a team that beats you in the semi-finals, it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. But we want to win it for ourselves, not just stop someone else.”
“We have a real winning mentality in this team and we went down last time. But now it’s about delivery and, when I look around the dressing room, I’m convinced we have a team to win.”
“You always feel hurt when you lose a semi-final. I’ve lost two of them and a final in my career. But we also know how good it feels to win it and we’re going to chase that feeling,” he said.
Van Poortvliet says the addition of new coaches Craig Childs, Rod Seib, Craig Newby and Freddie Burns to Geoff Parling’s coaching has given them real clarity on the direction of travel.
“We did a lot of good things to get to where we were last time, but it’s clear that we have a lot more to do to get to where we want to be. We’ve got some new players and coaches.”
“Those coaches brought in their ideas and methods. We have real clarity this year about what is needed,” added Van Poortvliet.