Watson makes Leicester debut 16 years after exit

Much has happened in the 16 years it took for Leicester academy graduate Hamish Watson to finally make his senior Tigers debut.

Since leaving Welford Road for Edinburgh in 2010, Watson has gone on to enjoy a highly successful career for club and country.

The experienced flanker earned 59 caps for Scotland and a place on the British & Irish Lions 2021 tour to South Africa off the back of being named that season's Six Nations Player of the Championship.

Yet he was still missing the first team debut at the club where it all started - until Saturday.

On a short-term loan from Edinburgh, Watson made his first competitive start of the season as the Tigers beat Bristol to enhance their Prem play-off ambitions.

"It was a weird full-circle moment," he told BBC Radio Leicester.

"It's funny how things work out sometimes and it was a really big day for me to come back after being in the academy and get my debut for such a big historic club."

Watson represented Leicester at Academy League level and at the Premiership 7s tournament, but was let go at the end of the 2009-10 season.

"I have no real hard feelings towards Tigers for not keeping me on," he said.

"Maybe that's because I went and did alright up in Scotland, but also I feel that year in the Tigers academy really made me the player I was, in the way that it helped me get into Scotland Under 20s, go to the Under 20 World Cup.

"So I always feel it was a very good year for me, to help me progress in the rugby world being associated with an academy like Leicester."

Now 34, Watson had made just two competitive appearances this season, both off the bench for Edinburgh, before an injury to Wales international Tommy Reffell elevated him into the Tigers' starting XV at openside flanker.

Whether spurred on or not by a chance to show Leicester what they had been missing for a decade-and-a-half, Watson made his presence felt, making more tackles (16) than anyone on the pitch against the Bears and five carries.

"There wasn't many clubs I would have gone on a short-term loan to, Leicester was one of the very few, because it was familiar and, like I said, a full-circle moment," he added.

"I wasn't playing at Edinburgh, and Leicester got a few injuries so I got an opportunity to get some game time and come to, for me, one of the best clubs in the world.

"I was keen to get stuck in and really thankful to Leicester Tigers for the opportunity."