As a World Cup winner in a rugby-mad nation, JP Pietersen is probably used to the jet-set lifestyle, which is just as well when you see how he joined up with his new Leicester Tigers team-mates.
The international wing made an emotional farewell to friends and family before catching his flight from South Africa, landed at Heathrow at 5.30 on a Monday morning, drove up to Leicester, just had time for a shower and then picked up a new kit bag and joined his new colleagues on the bus to another airport and a flight to Treviso.
Finally touching back down on dry land later that Monday afternoon, JP would be forgiven for waking up the following morning and wondering exactly where he was and what he had got into – not to mention who on earth his room-mate was! And that even before he’d started training Tigers-style.
Richard Cockerill, though, says he’s had no problems settling in, joining the training camp in Italy and watching the team’s pre-season victory there before spending the following week back at Oval Park and making his Tigers debut in the final warm-up game against the Ospreys.
JP must have been grateful that at least he was able to spend the full week in one place with no need for passport or visa, just getting to know the new routine and identifying the players he now calls colleagues.
His welcome was a warm one last Friday too as one of the biggest cheers of the evening greeted the start of his warm-up behind the posts and even louder cheers as he ran out on to the pitch for the final 20 minutes of an entertaining evening in the win over the Ospreys. Even a yellow card in defence – “A sin bin in six minutes is possibly a record even for us,” said boss Cockerill afterwards – did little to tarnish the evening.
The reception from supporters said everything about the appeal of a big-name signing.
As a World Cup winner with 69 Test caps to his name, JP is most certainly big name and, with his 30th birthday still 10 months ahead of him, expectations will be high among the Tigers Family going into the start of his first English league season.
Welcome JP and all the very best.
The international wing made an emotional farewell to friends and family before catching his flight from South Africa, landed at Heathrow at 5.30 on a Monday morning, drove up to Leicester, just had time for a shower and then picked up a new kit bag and joined his new colleagues on the bus to another airport and a flight to Treviso.
Finally touching back down on dry land later that Monday afternoon, JP would be forgiven for waking up the following morning and wondering exactly where he was and what he had got into – not to mention who on earth his room-mate was! And that even before he’d started training Tigers-style.
Richard Cockerill, though, says he’s had no problems settling in, joining the training camp in Italy and watching the team’s pre-season victory there before spending the following week back at Oval Park and making his Tigers debut in the final warm-up game against the Ospreys.
JP must have been grateful that at least he was able to spend the full week in one place with no need for passport or visa, just getting to know the new routine and identifying the players he now calls colleagues.
His welcome was a warm one last Friday too as one of the biggest cheers of the evening greeted the start of his warm-up behind the posts and even louder cheers as he ran out on to the pitch for the final 20 minutes of an entertaining evening in the win over the Ospreys. Even a yellow card in defence – “A sin bin in six minutes is possibly a record even for us,” said boss Cockerill afterwards – did little to tarnish the evening.
The reception from supporters said everything about the appeal of a big-name signing.
As a World Cup winner with 69 Test caps to his name, JP is most certainly big name and, with his 30th birthday still 10 months ahead of him, expectations will be high among the Tigers Family going into the start of his first English league season.
Welcome JP and all the very best.
