Two England representatives part of five-player Leicester buying spree

Leicester Tigers have signed England representatives Jamie Blamire and Tarek Haffar ahead of next season, as part of a five-player swoop made by the club.

The Midlands outfit are preparing to lose some rugby titans over the summer, with Ben Youngs, Handre Pollard, Julian Montoya and coach Michael Cheika just some of the names that will leave Welford Road.

Six-cap England hooker Blamire, 27, will move south from Newcastle Falcons to fill the void left by Montoya in a move that has been anticipated for months.

Blamire will pack down in the front-row next season alongside loosehead prop Haffar, who will join from rivals Northampton Saints. The 23-year-old will make the move on the back of a season where he represented England A against Ireland A in February.

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Leicester’s Argentine influence will not diminish over the summer despite Montoya’s exit, with Pampas XV’s one-cap flanker Joaquin Moro part of the quintet of arrivals.

With Jamie Shillcock a member of the Tigers’ departures this season, former academy product Charlie Titcombe, 23, has been brought in from the Scarlets as a replacement.

Centre Wilf McCarthy is the final addition in this squadron of signings, who will join from Hartpury University. McCarthy will bolster Leicester’s centre stocks with Dan Kelly bound for Munster.

When looking at the club’s new signings, general manager Richard Wilks said: “As a club, we have been fortunate to have had outstanding players and individuals at hooker over the last decade and Jamie continues that trend. As soon as we met with him, we felt he would bring both those attributes and much more to the club.

“Tarek is a young, talented front-rower, who is making great strides in his career already, and we are pleased that it will continue with us at Leicester Tigers.”

“He is a powerful ball carrier, which offers a great point of difference alongside his other strong attributes as a prop, and is coming to a club who value set piece dominance. We are confident his development will continue working alongside our world-class front-rowers.

“We believe Joaquin has huge potential to develop at Leicester Tigers and continue the proud tradition of Argentine players fulfilling their ambitions in the game as part of our club.

“Charlie is a young lad who knows this club well, has a great passion for Leicester Tigers and is familiar to many of the players in our squad.”

“We always keep track of the talented youngsters who have developed with us and, like in the case of Ollie Chessum, are delighted to welcome back a player who has continued their development in the game.

“We are excited to welcome Wilf to the club next season and be a part of this next stage in his development as a player.”