First, Tait deserves a decent break after some terrible luck on the injury front.
There is occasionally a place for sentiment and The Tig celebrated with everyone else in Tigers colours when Tait bounced back strongly last season to play a key role in the Premiership title win and the run to the last eight in Europe.
But, beyond the sentiment, it was a consistency and a dogged determination to succeed that should be applauded loudest as Tait returns to the international fold.
After 38 caps, spread between centre, wing and full-back, the 27-year-old Tait has shown you can indeed keep learning in this game and bounce back from disappointments.
On paper, the signing of Tait looked full of potential, but then the 2011/12 season provided a false start, with just three appearances after his arrival from Sale Sharks.
But Tigers and Tait were rewarded for their hard work and their patience as he produced the goods on his return to action in 2012/13.
A try in his ‘A’ League comeback showed a bit of the ‘zip’ of old, and there were some first-team highlights too, including tries at Saints, and against London Irish and Harlequins in the last two home games of the season.
His run against Toulon was among the abiding memories of a ferociously tough European season. Running back as last man to field the ball and then taking on half the French side in his run beyond halfway, Tait showed pace and power as well as a defiance in possession to get Tigers back on to the front foot in a cauldron-like atmosphere at the Stade Felix Mayol.
Mat is not the biggest full-back in the world by any stretch, but then neither was Geordan Murphy and he ended 16 years at Leicester as the most successful player in English professional rugby history. Geordan has undoubtedly already played a part in Tait’s development and in his new role as coach you’d like to think both will benefit in the longer term too.
Well done Mat, you just can’t keep a good man down.
