Shillcock lives his dream of being a Tiger

IT’S been a long time coming but Jamie Shillcock has finally experienced the joy of running out at Welford Road as a Leicester Tigers player.

-  JON NEWCOMBE

The versatile back made his competitive debut in the Tigers’ 50-6 Premiership Cup win against Caldy last weekend, fulfilling a long-held dream.

Despite being best-known for his days as a Worcester player, it was the Tigers who first captured a schoolboy Shillcock’s imagination.

“I am not from too far away, I am from Warwick and Mum and Dad are still there. I always used to do the (Tigers) development camps and the summertime camps when I was little so I’ve always kind of had an affiliation with Leicester in my heart,” the 26-year-old said.

“It was nice to run out as a Tigers player, as opposed to being an opposition player, and have the crowd behind you for a change rather than give you some stick if you make a mistake.

“Being able to run out with Smoke on the Water going (Leicester’s famous run-on anthem) and the crowd cheering you on was just something I had been waiting for a long, long time.”

Shillcock’s signing for the 2023/24 season was officially announced in January but the deal was pretty much over the line 10 months ago, when he made his one and only appearance for Bath, ironically against the Tigers.

“I played at full-back which went well. I think Bath ended up winning with the last play of the game (19-18) and at the time I don’t think Steve (Borthwick, then Leicester head coach) was that impressed I played against them!!”