Let me wing it like Alesana says new Tiger Adam Thompstone

Alesana Tuilagi racked up more than a half-century of tries for Leicester at an average of better than one every three games so when Adam Thompstone says he wants to fill his boots he is setting quite a challenge.
The Welford Road faithful will miss a lot more than the Samoan’s 6ft 1in powerhouse frame after he departed to Japan this summer.
With 63 tries in 161 appearances, Tuilagi was the mainstay on the left wing for seven seasons, most notably tearing Gloucester to shreds in the 2007 Premiership final.
Thompstone arrives after a frustrating few seasons at London Irish in which Jonathan Joseph and Tom Homer were promoted from the Exiles’ academy, while Topsy Ojo and Sailosi Tagicakibau claimed the majority of starting wing spots.
With his career stalling, Thompstone admits a switch to Leicester was too good to turn down.
He said: “With Alesana Tuilagi and Horacio Agulla leaving, Leicester needed wingers – and when they came to me I could not say no.
“It’s such a great club, I wanted to be a part of that. Alesana was an amazing player for Leicester for a long time so they are some big boots to fill. But there are shirts to be won with a few new guys fighting for places.
“I know it’s going to be competitive with Miles Benjamin coming in, but I want to be involved as much as possible from the start.
“I’m just itching to start playing now, we’ve done a lot of work in pre-season but I want to show the director of rugby Richard Cockerill and the coaches what I can do.”
Thompstone looked set to become a regular with the Exiles during a breakthrough season in 2008/9 when he racked up seven tries in 12 starts.
What should have been the perfect springboard instead turned out to be his most successful season to date – with a serious ankle injury restricting him to just 15 starts in the following three seasons.
However, with that behind him, Thompstone insists he is fully fit and raring to go.
He added: “The injuries certainly didn’t help me and set me back in my development. I was out for a long while and it made things a lot more difficult to get into the London Irish team.
“The key is to look forward, I’m feeling good, all the injuries are behind me and I’ve had a great pre-season so I just want to kick on now at Leicester.
“I couldn’t ask for a better place to get back on track.”
Leicester have confirmed the signing of Thompstone’s former London Irish team-mate, back-rower Richard Thorpe, until the end of the season. Tigers have done a deal with the Exiles to share the costs of the 27-year-old’s wages.
PAUL EDDISON