Leicester signing Matt Scott feels no pressure to replace Tuilagi void

STRONG-RUNNING centre Matt Scott is relishing the opportunity to fill the big hole left in Leicester‘s midfield through the departure of Manu Tuilagi.

Scott, who has won 39 caps for Scotland since his debut in 2012,  signed for Tigers before Tuilagi’s exit from the club was confirmed and would have loved to have played alongside “one of the best centres in the world”.

With Tuilagi gone, Scott’s physicality will be a prized asset, but the 29-year-old insists: “I don’t feel under any pressure to be someone else. I will bring what I can bring and hopefully that’s going to add value to the Tigers. I’m a different player to Manu  – he is unique – so I wouldn’t profess to being similar to him. I think we both have different strengths.

“I would have loved for Manu to have stayed with the club, and I would have loved to have played with him because he is obviously one of the best centres in the world.

“I’ve got my own targets. I am 29-years-old now and rugby is not a long career. I have really knuckled down here, and I want to have a few successful years.

“It is really exciting to be part of the resurgence of Leicester – potentially. Genuinely, I think with the guys we have got coming in and the guys that are here, and the coaching we are getting, we are in a very strong place.”

Scott has caught the eye in training, impressing fly-half George Ford, the man who will play inside him, and he says the move to Tigers has given him a new lease of life.

Until Tigers came calling in May, Scott’s career was in limbo.

A verbal contract with Edinburgh had been withdrawn around Christmas time and with a first child on the way (due in October), the former law student admits it was a tough time.

“It’s made me extremely grateful to be where I am and aware of how fragile this career can be in terms of timing and luck and injuries and contracts – there is a myriad of different things.

“Just being in this environment with some of the best players in the world is amazing. It has definitely given me a boost to keep training hard each day and get better.”

Scott won the last of his  Scotland caps in 2017 and his move south came with national head coach Gregor Townsend’s best wishes.

While making his mark at Leicester is the Dunfermline-born player’s number one priority, he’d love to pull on a dark blue jersey again.

“It would be fantastic to get involved again, it would almost feel like getting my first cap. It has been three years since my last one.”

Scott has previous experience of the Premiership through a spell at Gloucester, from 2016-18. He scored 11 tries in 26 league appearances for the Cherry & Whites but ankle surgery spoilt his last season at the club.

Even so, Scott says the time spent at Kingsholm should be invaluable as he prepares to take to the field for Leicester.

“It should be really beneficial,” he said. “It just gives you that confidence that you can perform in this league, and as daft as that sounds because we’re all playing the same sport, there is always that bit of apprehension because you are going to new grounds, you are going to new places, coming up against new teams and teams you don’t get to play very often. So, to have already played a lot of the teams and to have that familiarity with the grounds can only be a good thing.

“Having Test match experience, I need to stand up and be counted. I feel ready to take on that role.”

Scott’s arrival at Welford Road doubles the Scottish international contingent in the Leicester playing squad as he links up with young hooker Jake Kerr.

Before then, Scottish internationals had been conspicuous by their absence at Tigers with only the Hamiltons, Jim and Luke, neither of whom were born in Scotland, and going back further, Craig Joiner, representing the club in the pro era.

He said: “I’ve been getting the mick taken out of me for having a posh Scottish accent but it’s just that I am trying to enunciate better – I went to Currie High School, a rough and tumble school just outside of Edinburgh!”

JON NEWCOMBE