The world champions were beaten 22-17 on the first night of their European tour as a capacity crowd of 24,000 shared in the official opening of the Caterpillar Stand at Welford Road.
“What an amazing night,” said Tom who began the evening with a special presentation on the pitch to Caterpillar chairman and CEO Jim Owens who performed the official opening ceremony.
“Coming into the game with so many players out and with the England players away, and naming five in the team aged 20 or under, it is just amazing to see the team come through for a famous victory.
“South Africa pride themselves on the scrum but our scrum was amazing, we won the game up front.
“The great thing is when you put on a Leicester Tigers shirt people are prepared to die for it, so to speak. The whole squad put themselves on the line.
“The last three to four minutes when we were defending our line – it seemed like three days – it was incredible.
“The atmosphere was fantastic. Jim Owens has come over from America with Caterpillar and he loved it.
“We were thrilled that South Africa agreed to play here, they are the No1 side in the world. It was the first game of their tour and we probably caught them on the hop.
“It is a great evening for the club and one the players and the supporters will remember for a very long time.”
