GEORDAN MURPHYโS LEICESTER have confirmed the signing of former Munster man Aled Walters as the clubโs new head of physical performance.
Walters joins from the Springboks, who confirmed yesterday that the Welshman had been released from his contract in South Africa for personal reasons.
World Cup winner Walters was with Munster from 2012 until 2018, when Rassie Erasmus lured him to the Boks set-up, and he now brings his skillset to Premiership club Leicester.
Walters will be working alongside director of rugby Geordan Murphy, the former Ireland fullback, and new head coach Steve Borthwick, who is joining from England.
Expressing his delight at signing for Leicester, Walters revealed he has been an admirer of the club for some time.
โI grew up a staunch Scarlets fan and have a lot of history with Leicester,โ said Walters. โI was there when the famous Tim Stimpson penalty went over [in 2002].
โYou have to fit the culture and I definitely appreciate that. Thatโs why teams like Leicester are more attractive to me. Leicester is a very similar club to Munster and Scarlets โ itโs a working-class area, theyโre tougher people and thatโs something that definitely appealed to me.
โItโs a genuine privilege and I donโt take leaving a World Cup team lightly. Itโs a very similar challenge to a couple of years ago, when I was approached to join the South African team who were playing below par.
โI see this as a similar scenario, and what I know first-hand is that things can change, but it takes a lot of hard work and only happens if everyone buys into it.
โThe challenge wouldnโt be as attractive if I didnโt believe there were things in place to turn things around and get the job done.โ
Meanwhile, Murphy โ who officially moves into the director of rugby role from 1 July โ welcomed the addition of Walters alongside Borthwick.
โAled is a world-renowned, world-class coach who we are excited to have joining us in Leicester,โ said Murphy. โThe addition of someone of Aledโs experience and knowledge is a significant signing for Leicester Tigers.
โHe has worked with some of the gameโs best athletes and been a big contributor to the successful environments he has been a part of, which will be key for us moving forward into this new chapter at Tigers.
โAledโs addition alongside Steve [Borthwick] is key to what we are doing in Leicester. Itโs a game-changer for us at Tigers and something we are extremely excited about going into the next phase of this journey.โ
Leicester have confirmed the additions of Nemani Nadolo, Matt Scott and Cyle Brink to their playing squad for next season.
Irish players Noel Reid, Jordan Coghlan, and Johnny McPhillips are already on the clubโs books.
Good article
Excellent article. A must read for any young players.
Well done Gavin.
Great article
The standard of our underage football in the country is key, good players will flourish wherever they go. What is important is that they are well coached and developed as footballers. The emphasis should always be on playing the right way rather than winning. Not easy of course but this is what other countries have done, Belgium, Portugal. And if there are more options out there than England so much the better. What an experience for a young person to spend a year or two (if thatโs what it works out as) on the continent.
John Delaney is gone
I love these articles
I used to never miss a Bohemians game in Dalymount in the 70โs before leaving Dublin. Each home game there were kids from a school invited to attend and it was announced before the game.
Very good read. More analysis like this please.
A very good article, but its not Irish football , it is Irish soccer