Coaches at Leicester Tigers global partner club Dendermonde visited Oval Park to pick up training ideas ahead of their pre-season.

Former Tigers lock Joe Cain, who was appointed Dendermonde head coach in May, was joined by director of rugby Karim Demnati and backs coach Pierre Chancel for the visit.

Cain, who graduated from the academy to play for the first team, said: “We have come to see the environment, the culture and to see what Tigers are doing in their pre-season and pick up some ideas for ours.”

Dendermonde, the defending men’s and women’s Belgian champions, begin their pre-season in three weeks when they will build towards the Benecup, which pits the top four teams in Belgium and the top four teams in Holland against each other.

Demnati said: “It’s very nice to be able to see what they are doing. It looks simple, but effective. It is very focused, and that is a big difference, how focused they are here.”

Chancel added: “It’s absolutely great to see the equipment, the players. It is very easy to talk to them. I enjoyed the simplicity of what they do.

“I think we will be able to take some of the ideas with us for pre-season at Dendermonde.”

More information on Dendermonde RC is available by clicking here.