Delight for former Saints coach Dickens as he joins 'quality club' Leicester Tigers

Dickens has been appointed as attack and backs coach at Mattioli Woods Welford Road, taking up a role as part of incoming boss Dan McKellar's coaching team.

Dickens, who has recently been in charge of England Under-20s, spent nine seasons at Saints and successfully occupied various roles.

He was involved with the club's Academy before taking on attack, defence and then interim head coach duties.

But he will now be giving his expertise to Tigers.

And Dickens said: "Leicester Tigers is a quality club and always have been, forever and a day.

"To have the chance to join this club now, at this exciting time under Dan, is an opportunity I am looking forward to.

“I have had an association with a lot of the players in the squad from my time with England and know well just how much quality is in this squad, who I enjoyed working with in the past and am excited about working in the future alongside the rest of the players.

“This group of players are a hard-working group, everyone can see that, and it is certainly a squad that I am pleased to be able to help improve.

“The conversations with Dan have been great; he is clear in terms of how we wants to improve the side, what he wants to see in the attack and how he wants the side to play and I am looking forward to working with him and the coaching team on that.”

Prior to moving into coaching, Dickens spent a decade as a professional player and represented Sale Sharks, Leeds Tykes, Saracens and Saints.

He has spent the past four seasons as the lead coach of England Under-20s.

And new Tigers head coach McKellar is happy to be able to call on Dickens next season.

“Alan is a hugely experienced coach with a great knowledge of the Premiership and European rugby, which will be of great value to our coaching team," McKellar said.

“He also has the unique experience and understanding of a lot of our players, having worked closely with them throughout their England junior careers, and the way in which to get the very best from young players in the game.

“I have enjoyed the conversations we have had already about how we can evolve our game at Leicester Tigers and am excited to get to work with Alan next month ahead of the 23/24 season.”

Leicester Tigers 23/24 coaching team: Dan McKellar (head coach), Brett Deacon (assistant coach), Alan Dickens (attack and backs coach), Matt Everard (defence coach), Dan Palmer (scrum coach), Ollie Richardson (head of physical performance), Matt Smith (skills coach and lead academy coach).