While Rigg broke into Sunderland’s first team last season, this has been his breakthrough campaign, with 28 starts and three more substitute appearances in the Championship alone so far this term.
The 17-year-old has been a mainstay of Le Bris’ preferred starting line-up, but found himself dropped to the bench in last Friday’s 2-1 win at Sheffield Wednesday.
That was only the second time since the opening day of the season when Rigg was absent from the starting line-up despite being fit, with his demotion coming in the wake of a conversation in which he and his head coach had discussed his slight dip in form.
Le Bris was impressed with Rigg’s honesty, but insists it was always fanciful to expect him to continue hitting the same high standards throughout the whole of the season given his age and lack of senior experience.
“This is really Chris Rigg’s first season,” said the Sunderland boss. “It is a new experience for him. It is not unusual for a player like that to struggle a little bit at this stage of the season, after 35 games.
“We spoke together last week. He said he wasn’t happy about his game level, but I said, ‘It is normal – you just have to adjust to this new experience’.
“As a club and as a staff, we have to create the right condition for him to be able to recover, then I am sure he will find his best level again.”
While Rigg dropped down to the bench at Hillsborough, Dan Neil and Jobe Bellingham remained in the starting line-up despite having had an equally heavy workload so far this season.
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Neil has started 34 of Sunderland’s 35 league matches – his only absence was back in August, when he was suspended following his sending off against Burnley – while Bellingham’s appearance against Sheffield Wednesday took him to 31 league starts.
At some stage between now and the end of the season, the pair could also be rested, but their higher level of experience means Le Bris is less concerned about them suffering from burnout or a drop-off in form.
“With Dan and Jobe, the situation is a little bit different,” he said. “They are more mature and more experienced, even if they are still young. Jobe is still 19, but this is probably his second full season and that makes a bit of a difference.
“I think he has shown really good qualities. He maybe wasn’t always exactly where he would want to be, but he has maintained a very good performance level. He has never dipped too low, and that is probably just a case of him becoming more mature.
“With that kind of foundation, you can go on and reach the next level. Jobe was able to do that, and I think that has been the case with Dan as well. Because of their experiences, they have learned how not to waste energy on the pitch, like you do when you are younger.
“I think for Riggy, we are still in that phase. Sometimes, he could maybe make different decisions that result in the same outcome, but with less energy. We are here to help him with that, and I hope we are able to manage all three players properly until the end of the season.”
And when it comes to the ability to manage the closing stages of matches, Le Bris felt Neil and Bellingham both showed their value in the final few minutes of the win at Sheffield Wednesday.
“Dan and Jobe were both very important in the closing stages of that game,” he said. “There were three or four moments where we needed them to manage the game properly.
“There have been times this season when we have not done that, and we have spoken about the last ten minutes of different games. But I think we made different decisions during the (Sheff Wed) game.
“Even with young players on the pitch, we were much better, so that means that the right ideas have been shared. It is not just about seeing things on a screen or talking about it though, you have to do it on the pitch when it counts. I think Dan, especially, was very important during the closing part of the game.”
