Leicester Tigers eye reunion with Wales star as Pollard doubts persist

Leicester Tigers would like to be reunited with Scarlets fly-half Sam Costelow as doubts persist about the future of their back-to-back Rugby World Cup winner star Handre Pollard, who is out of contract at the end of the season.

The 30-year-old Pollard, who has won 80 caps for his country, played for the Bulls, Red Hurricanes Osaka and Montpellier before arriving in the East Midlands in 2022 and has scored six tries in 33 appearances for the club.

But there are indications that Pollard, who is reputed to earn £600,000 a year, will return to Japan, especially given the financial rewards on offer are better in the Far East than in his native South Africa where options will be limited.

The Tigers are keen on a return for Costelow, the 23-year-old who hails from Llantrisant and was educated at Oakham School.

The production line of Old Oakhamians to have played for the Tigers include Jack van Poortvliet, Tom Croft and Lewis Moody, as well as legendary stalwart David Matthews, rated as one of the club's greatest ever players.

Costelow was part of the Ospreys U16s set-up before joining the Tigers in 2018. He was an understudy to George Ford, making just four first-team appearances before securing a move to the Scarlets in March 2020.

He has made 55 appearances for the Parc y Scarlets outfit, scoring 366 points breaking into the Wales set-up in November 2022, and has won 17 caps, which could be an obstacle to a potential return to the East Midlands.

Any player with fewer than 25 caps must play in Wales if they want to continue to play for their country. It means that Costelow would need to be a near-ever present in the autumn internationals, Six Nations and Japan summer tour next year to get to the required number of caps.