Leicester in move for Moose

13 April 2012

Leicester have plunged back into the global transfer market for Dave 'The Moose' Lougheed, the stampeding Canadian whose tries took them to successive Premier-ship titles.

Tigers' manager Dean Richards has opened negotiations with the 32-year-old wing aimed at bringing him back to Welford Road, a move which hints at the anxiety felt by the champions after losing two of their last three matches.

But the unexpected reunion between Leicester and one of their most popular players will be completed only if the price is right.

'Dave has expressed a desire to return to Britain and we are looking into it,' said Richards . 'That's as far as it's gone at this stage. To a degree, we have missed certain facets of his game.'

Lougheed's proposed comeback will encompass a rather different degree, namely a master's in business administration, and Leicester will have to provide him with the university facilities to transfer his studies from Calgary, where the player returned at the end of last season to enable his wife to set up in business as a chiropractor.

Lougheed has already flown across the Atlantic on one rescue mission since the return to his homeland, answering one of Gloucester's recurring crises by appearing twice in four days earlier this month against Newcastle and Bath.

Leicester, where his bullocking presence has been sorely missed, will hope to bring him back for the season.

They had until yesterday to beat the European deadline and register him among their 30-man squad for the six-match series of Heineken Cup encounters starting at home to Pau on Saturday week, followed by trips to Glasgow and Pontypridd.

All too conscious of their failure to make any impact in Europe last season, the English champions are also acutely aware of their swingeing domestic handicap.

The Premiership's decision to play through England's pre-Christmas internationals will strip Leicester of half their pack against Wasps, Harlequins and Gloucester, none of whom will be required to shoulder quite as heavy a national burden. 'That will make it very difficult to win the title again,' said Richards. 'We know we can play a lot better and we are looking at various positions.'

Whatever his options, Richards denies that Springbok scrum half Joost van der Westhuizen is one of them. The collapse of their plans to import Carlos Spencer from New Zealand and Rob Howley from Wales clearly leaves Leicester with enough financial clout to buy big and stay within the £1.8million annual salary cap.

Van der Westhuizen's South African contract runs out next month, with the player far from enchanted with life on the high veldt after being dropped by Nick Mallett and understood to be ready to finish his career in England. Leicester have talked about him but Richards dismisses any move for his services.

Mallett will be otherwise engaged today as he worries about the pecking order of his scrum halves for the tour of Argentina and Britain.

Whether the Springbok coach is still in position to make the trip depends on the verdict of a three-man tribunal appointed by his employers, the South African Rugby Football Union, under the chairman-ship of ex-international referee Steve Strydom.

As an example of how rugby's madness knows no frontiers , Mallett's charge of bringing the game into disrepute follows his public criticism of South Africa's 'greedy' ticketing policy, made to a woman in Durban last month who he claimed did not identify herself as a Sunday newspaper reporter.

The four witnesses for the defence include Springbok manager Gideon Sam and assistant coach Alan Solomons.

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