Richard Wigglesworth appointed Leicester Tigers Interim Head Coach

Leicester Tigers have appointed Richard Wigglesworth Interim Head Coach after agreeing terms with Steve Borthwick and Kevin Sinfield for an early release from their contracts with the club.

The appointment sees Wigglesworth retire from professional rugby, bringing the on-field career of the English game’s most decorated and accomplished player to a close.

Wigglesworth has made more than 500 senior appearances - including a record 322 Premiership games and 33 Test matches for England - during a more than 20-year professional career.

He made his professional debut in 2002 for Sale Sharks, who he won the first of seven Premiership titles with before moving to Saracens in 2010, where he won three Heineken Champions Cup trophies.

Wigglesworth made 43 appearances for Leicester Tigers, scoring four tries, in two and a half seasons.

Borthwick joined Tigers in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic enforced postponement of the 2019/20 season, and has overseen 87 games in charge.

During his first campaign, the recommenced 19/20 season, Borthwick coached the side on 10 occasions and led Tigers to a European Challenge Cup semi-final, while finishing 11th on the Gallagher Premiership ladder.

In his first full season, he oversaw Tigers climb to sixth on the Premiership ladder and reach the European Challenge Cup Final.

His third campaign included a return to Heineken Champions Cup rugby, in which the club reached the quarter-finals of European’s top-tier, semi-final finish in the Premiership Rugby Cup and ended the regular season atop the league table before going on to be crowned Gallagher Premiership Champions - the first for the club in almost a decade.

The 2021/22 season included the club achieving an unbeaten run of 15 games to start the season across all three of the Premiership, Champions Cup and Premiership Cup competitions.

At the conclusion of the campaign, Borthwick was awarded The Director Rugby of the Year award at The Premiership Rugby Awards night.

Borthwick has overseen 14 games in the 2022/23 season.

During his tenure, 73 players have made their Leicester Tigers senior debut and nine players have debuted in senior men’s Test rugby.

Sinfield joined Tigers ahead of the 2021/22 season to take charge of the senior side’s defence after a decorated rugby league career as a player, coach and administrator.

The 42-year-old was part of the coaching team which led the club to its first Premiership title in nine years.

During his time in Leicester, Sinfield continued in his efforts to raise vital funds and awareness for Motor Neurone Disease (MND), completing two major running challenges and raised more than £7,000,000 in two years.

Wigglesworth commences in his new role effective immediately, supported by Head of Physical Performance Aled Walters and assistant coaches Brett Deacon, Matt Everard, Tom Harrison and Matt Smith.