{"id":463510,"date":"2026-03-08T01:26:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T01:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/463510\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T01:26:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T01:26:10","slug":"leicester-tigers-statement-hamish-watson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/463510\/","title":{"rendered":"Leicester Tigers statement: Hamish Watson"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Fresh on the heels of Scotland\u2019s stunning victory over France, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/leicester\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Leicester<\/a> Tigers have confirmed the short-term signing of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/scotland\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Scotland<\/a> and British &amp; Irish <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/lions\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lions<\/a> flanker <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/players\/hamish-watson\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Hamish Watson<\/a> on a two-month loan deal from Edinburgh.<\/p>\n<p>The 59-cap Scotland international arrives at Mattioli Woods Welford Road with immediate effect, providing the midlands club with experienced back-row cover during a busy run of fixtures.<\/p>\n<p>Watson is no stranger to the region. He was educated at Oakham School in Rutland and spent time in the Leicester Tigers academy before making the move north of the border to continue his professional career with Edinburgh.<\/p>\n<p>The 33-year-old has gone on to become one of Scotland\u2019s most decorated back-row forwards of the professional era, earning selection for the British &amp; Irish Lions on their 2021 tour of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/south-africa\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">South Africa<\/a> and becoming a central figure for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/edinburgh\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Edinburgh<\/a> across more than a decade.<\/p>\n<p>Geoff Parling said: \u201cWe\u2019ve had some injuries in the back 5 of the pack so it\u2019s a real boost to be able to add someone of Hamish\u2019s quality at such short notice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s quite full circle for him to be in our academy and then get the chance to represent us so many years later.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve had conversations around the fluidity of how long he\u2019ll be with us when others start returning, but it\u2019s great to hear how hungry he is to represent Tigers, and we look forward to welcoming him at Oval Park.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Watson has made 168 appearances for the Scottish capital club, scoring 22 tries and starting 138 of those matches, while racking up more than 10,000 minutes of action in the process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a full-circle moment for me to rejoin Tigers having been in the academy system here earlier in my career,\u201d said Watson.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is such a prestigious club and it\u2019s an honour to join them, even on a short-term basis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI played at Mattioli Woods Welford Road in the A-League, and then again for Edinburgh a few years ago, and the chance to play in front of that famous crowd would be a privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fresh on the heels of Scotland\u2019s stunning victory over France, Leicester Tigers have confirmed the short-term signing of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":463511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-463510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}