Josh arrival will ease Back strain

'Dean (Richards) and the management got me in early on the Kronfeld signing so I have known about it since before Christmas. He is a world-class player who will be a great acquisition for the club.'

As manager, Richards is already preparing to be without Back for the entire first month of the season, most of the second and most of the third. The demands of the Lions tour and England's pre-Christmas Tests leave him scheduled to miss the majority of the first 10 of Leicester's 22 Premiership matches.

Back said: 'If I complete the Lions series in mid-July, then it would be wise for me to take a month off and use the whole of September for my pre-season work. Having Josh there gives the club a little more flexibility.'

But Back will be in no mood to play second fiddle to Kronfeld when the Tigers have to choose between them for the crunch games. He said: 'I want to retain my position at No.7 as the first-choice.'

When Leicester go for broke against the French champions at the Parc des Princes on Saturday, Kronfeld will be otherwise engaged in Cardiff preparing for the Barbarians' fixture against Wales on Sunday, his first match since October.

Back may have welcomed Kronfeld's signing but the same could hardly be said of Lewis Moody, whose rising stature as Leicester's second-choice No. 7 has won him promotion to the full England squad bound for North America at the end of the month. Where this leaves Moody now is anyone's guess.

Skipper Martin Johnson said: 'It's tough for Lewis but he knows everyone at the club has a lot of respect for him and confidence in his ability. When he has played instead of Neil, we have not been weakened in any way. I'm sure Lewis will play as much rugby next season as anyone else.'

Stade president Max Guazzini has accused Leicester of 'a total lack of respect' over what he claims was their failure to return unsold tickets to the Paris club earlier. Guazzini said: 'They told us last Thursday they had these tickets but it has taken them until Tuesday to get here.'

Bath are considering withdrawing their £110,000-a-year offer to Julian White rather than get embroiled in a legal wrangle with Bristol, who have confirmed that Argentina's irrepressible scrum half Augustin Pichot has signed on at the Memorial Stadium for three more years.

Newcastle captain Doddie Weir is back in favour with Scotland after being ignored all season. The former Lions lock reappears among a squad of 23 to face the Barbarians at Murrayfield a week today.