Newly-appointed Leicester Tigers captain Hanro Liebenberg is looking forward to his first season with the responsibility of leading the Premiership champions in their title defence this season.

Liebenberg is no stranger to the Tigers’ leadership group after serving as deputy for England front-row Ellis Genge as coach Steve Borthwick’s men claimed the title last season.

Lead by example

The South African is confident the squad knows the kind of player he is and revealed that his leadership style is based on leading by example as opposed to the fiery nature of Genge’s captaincy.

“The players know who I am, what kind of player I am. You have to lead by example, that’s something I firmly believe in,” Liebenberg said.

“I learned a lot from Ellis, but we’re all different, there’s no recipe on how a captain should be.”

The back-row will be looking for the support of fellow leaders in the squad and also acknowledged that he will not be a perfect leader and should be held accountable where necessary.

“I am looking to other guys to step in for me. I know we have the players that can help me do that,” said Liebenberg.

“It was a huge relief when Steve asked me [to be captain]. I told him that I will make mistakes, I will slip up, and I need to be held accountable when I do that.”

Borthwick is delighted with his choice of captain as Liebenberg ticks all the boxes the former England second-row wants from his team leader.

“In any leadership position, you need to play well and train well. He plays consistently at such a high level and trains at an incredible level,” said Borthwick.

“Then you look at his understanding of the game, the influence he has over the other players, and the relationships he has. He’s brilliant at all of that.”

Focus on title-defence

Liebenberg understands that the rest of the teams will be looking to dethrone the Premiership champions, but it is head down in the Tigers‘ camp as they look to bring more joy to Welford Road.

“We’ll have a target on our backs, but we still have that underdog mentality,” he said.

“People will tell us it was by chance, it was a one-off. We want that, we will just go about our business, work every week and hopefully have those memories again.”

Liebenberg, who is only the second foreign captain for the historic club, knows the challenge ahead is massive but plans to improve on what he has been given.

“Sometimes there is an added weight on my shoulder,” he added. “There are so many great captains this club has had. If only I can leave this club in a better place, I will be a happy man.”

Click Here: converse shop

Categories:

Tags:

Comments are closed