Leicester Tigers have appointed Richard Wilks as Head of Performance Recruitment.

A former professional rugby player, Wilks made senior debut in 1999 for Sale Sharks and was a member of the 2002 European Challenge Cup winning squad.

After retiring from playing, he joined multi-sport agency SFX in 2005 and moved to Wasserman Media Group as a Director after its global acquisition of SFX. In 2008, Wilks left Wasserman Media Group to found Green Room Sports Management, a specialist in rugby athlete management.

During the 2020/21 season, Wilks deactivated his agents licence to work as a consultant to Leicester Tigers and now joins the rugby department headed up by General Manager Leigh Jones in a full-time role.

Speaking about the appointment of Wilks, Jones said: “Richard has more than two decades of experience in this area and possesses incredible insight of which will be of great benefit to us at Leicester Tigers.

“As we continue to re-shape this club, in particular the rugby department, we are pleased to be able to add the expertise Richard has to our staff.

“We have made great strides at the club during the past year and Richard’s appointment is the next step on this journey we are on at Leicester Tigers.”

Jones will continue to manage the rugby operations at the club and Oval Park training base, including overseeing the retention, recruitment and pathway programmes at Leicester Tigers.

Richard Wilks will manage the senior retention and recruitment at Tigers, working with Jones and Academy Manager David Wilks in seeing the next generation of players come through the club’s academy programme, as well as the performance partnerships in place with Nottingham Rugby, SMB College’s Brooksby Melton campus and Partner Schools.

Wilks commences at the club effective immediately.