Matthew Gould and Cieran Barry were both invited to train with Leicester Tigers 1st team squad this week as part of The Premiership’s pre-season training programme, overseen by incoming Head Coach Geoff Parling. Both students have been involved with Nottingham Rugby’s pre-season and the call came to cover some injuries within Tigers ranks and both outside backs jumped at the chance to train with the Premiership finalists from last season.
The partnership between NTU, Nottingham Rugby and Leicester Tigers is robustly strong in helping develop young players able to make the step up from university into Champ and then Prem rugby. Barry reflected on his experience “To get the chance to train with one of the best teams in the country was amazing. The lads and coaches made us feel really welcome and there was no question it was a step up, a big step up! But with the pre-season block at Nottingham Rugby under our belts, we felt we were able to hang fitness wise thankfully. Huge thanks to NTU for allowing us to have this experience”.