Aviva Premiership Rugby Football Union club the Leicester Tigers have confirmed full back Mat Tait is set to leave the club at the end of the season after putting pen to paper on a long term deal with Bayonne, the Top 14 club from France.
The move sees Tait bring the curtains down on an eventful four year spell with the Tigers at Welford Road as he seeks a different experience for himself on the field and for his family off it.
Bayonne are precariously placed at tenth in the Top 14 standings, just four points above safety in a tightly packed bottom half of the table. But they are no pushovers in terms of star names in the squad which boasts the likes of Joe Rokocoko, the former New Zealand wing and Mike Phillips, the Wales scrum half.
Richard Cockerill, the Director of Rugby at the Leicester Tigers wished his best to Tait for the future and said that they will need to plan the future without him in the team. He said that he is at an age where he had received a good offer from abroad and wants to go there and experience it an there is nothing the Tigers can do about it.
Cockerill said that ever since the player signed with the French club, he has been carefree and less worried about the way he plays. Cockerill even joked that he had been in such good form that he is now considering handing players three months rolling contracts to get the best out of them.
On a positive note for the Leicester Tigers, Niall Morris is expected to extend his stay at the club but it is believed the club will look for another back three player in the wake of the departure of Tait.