Former Saints Academy manager Hare returns to Tigers

Hare had been at Franklin’s Gardens since January 2010, overseeing the club’s Academy system and helping to recruit new players.

However, after spending several decades at the coal face of youth development, the 64-year-old departed in September.

And he has now taken up a new role at Leicester, where he made nearly 400 first-team appearances after arriving at the club in 1976.

Hare, who returned to Tigers in 1994 in a player development role and then became chief scout, will be charged with working with the team management on player recruitment.

And he said: “Recruitment and development of players is vitally important as standards continue to rise in the professional game.

“I’ve always enjoyed the challenge of finding those players who are not on anybody’s radar and seeing if they can come in and want to be better players and make it to the next level. Squads are getting better and better, and that makes the challenge even harder.

“I’ve been in rugby a long time and now I’m coming back ‘home’ to start another chapter in my career.

“We’re coming up to a very important part of the year in terms of recruitment and I’m looking forward to being involved.”