Leicester bring in two familiar faces from the Championship to bolster training numbers

Leicester Tigers have called in two Coventry players to help with numbers at training in the lead-up to their August 15 Gallagher Premiership restart match away to leaders Exeter.

Despite unveiling a raft of new signings in recent weeks since the arrival of new head coach Steve Borthwick, Leicester still felt it necessary to secure even more player resources due to the training restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 return-to-play protocols. 

It left them turning to the Championship for a dig-out and nearby Coventry have agreed to allow Andy Forsyth and Rory Jennings join up with the Leicester squad for training. 

Both are familiar faces. Versatile back Forsyth has ties with Leicester stretching back to a 2009/10 debut and he spent the early months of last season at the club on loan as World Cup cover before returning to Coventry at the beginning of 2020. Out-half Jennings, meanwhile, has previously been involved with Tigers as part of their Premiership Shield squad.

With Coventry having no start date yet for their 2020/21 Championship, they felt in a position to help out Leicester ahead of the 2019/20 Premiership restart. Speaking to the Tigers website about the pair's temporary involvement, Leicester director of rugby Geordan Murphy said: “It has been great to welcome Andy and Rory into the environment.

“With the unique training schedule we have at the moment in phase two, it has been important to have key positions filled during sessions with small groups taking part. Likewise, we have a few additions still to join us and to have Andy and Rory here has been helpful to us to while we wait for the arrival of Kini (Murimurivalu), Kobus (van Wyk) and Matias (Moroni), as well as others from various places in the world.

“We are very grateful to Coventry for allowing us to invite to the pair in for training and to the lads themselves, who have been great and added to our squad since arriving."