-
Club captain Ed Slater and Leicester Tigers fly-half Freddie Burns have signed new undisclosed contracts with the Premiership side
-
Ben Youngs also later in the day renewed his contract with the club
-
Slater has played 101 games for the Tigers since 2010
-
Burns made 28 appearances last season following his arrival from Gloucester
-
The Premiership club have also confirmed as reported last week that Manu Tuilagi has agreed a new deal to stay at Leicester Tigers
Leicester Tigers scrum-half Ben Youngs, fly-half Freddie Burns and club Captain Ed Slater have signed new deals with the club.
BEN YOUNGS
Youngs, who is capped 52 times by England and twice by the British and Irish Lions, is in his 10th season of first-team rugby at the club since coming out of the Tigers academy and now looks set to finish his career at Welford Road.
“The fact my dad was a Leicester Tigers player and that I can play alongside my brother in the Tigers team here each week is very important to me,” said Youngs who has made 169 appearances for the club since his debut as a teenager in 2007.
“I’ve been at the club for a long time and it’s a great experience to be involved at a club with that strong family connection.
“I’m really enjoying my rugby here, working with Richard Cockerill, Aaron Mauger and the rest of the coaching team. We have a great backroom staff and coaching team, which is important too.
“We’ve had a good start to the season and it’s good to see players like Matt Toomua coming in for next season as well as the guys who are agreeing new contracts from the current squad.”
FREDDIE BURNS
Burns, who joined from Gloucester in the summer of 2014, has extended his contract at Welford Road after a successful debut season.
“When I first came to Tigers last summer, I always thought of it as a long-term move for me, not a short-term fix, and I’m very happy to have agreed on a new contract to stay,” said Burns.
“Leicester is a great club with a lot of history and hopefully this group of players can add some history of their own.”
The 24-year-old enjoyed an excellent second half of the campaign and was an integral part of Tigers’ side that turned around their fortunes to earn a Premiership play-off spot against the odds.
A fractured jaw sustained in pre-season has ruled Burns out of action so far this season, but the number 10 is now nearing a return to first-team action.
ED SLATER
Slater, who was appointed captain in 2014 after Toby Flood’s departure to Toulouse, made his 100th appearance in Tigers colours in the impressive home win over Bath just over a week ago.
“The club has been very good to me, it has given me a great opportunity to play my rugby here and I am enjoying my rugby here.
“It’s a great club, we have a very good group of players, having Aaron Mauger here has added something as well and all those things combined made it a very easy decision to make to stay.”
After being ruled out of the majority of the 2014-15 campaign with a knee ligament injury, Slater is back to his best and is overjoyed to be remaining at Tigers.