Leicester born and raised, Sam Vesty is the fourth generation of his family to play for the Tigers and is the club’s Mr Versatile. After years of battling to establish a regular run in the first team, Sam enjoyed one of his best seasons at Welford Road last year.

The 28-year-old played in Tigers’ Guinness Premiership Final victory, the Heineken Cup Final, won the Player’s Player of the Year Award and made his England debut in the summer.

This season has been more frustrating as Vesty has missed a large part of the campaign through injury. Now fully-fit and back in the side, Sam has been satisfied with the team’s form in his absence.

“We’ve played pretty well and are at the top of the Premiership. Unfortunately, we’re out of the Heineken Cup, which is very disappointing, but we didn’t play the big games as well as we needed to and get the points early on, which left us struggling. You want to try and win every cup you’re in but the way things have turned out, with fixture commitments, it’s difficult to try and win all three.”

Vesty conceded that being out injured was a frustrating time and that coming back into regular rugby requires patience.

“It’s hard to jump straight back in. You need to be able to control your body as that’s your weapon. When you’re not fully in control of your body, you can’t be fully in control of your game. Things were going well for me towards the end of last year and I was playing some good rugby. I just want to get back to playing and enjoying some form.”

Despite his impressive club displays over the years, Vesty may have been forgiven for thinking his chance with England had gone, but last summer former club colleague, Martin Johnson, gave him the nod.

“When Johnno told me I was going to be in the squad for the summer tour, he phoned and said ‘Milky’ – that’s my nickname – ‘I’m picking you’. I was like ‘cheers Johnno’. That was a nice conversation!

“I played at Old Trafford which was cool. I was on for seven minutes and didn’t touch the ball, but I got a cap which was brilliant. Everybody wants to play for their country and I managed to do it twice.”

Sam provided a little more insight in to Martin Johnson the player and captain.

“He was phenomenal. I played under him and that was one of the highlights of my career, whatever happens. To have him as the top guy in England makes you really want to play for him, but obviously you want to play for the coach of England regardless.

“When he was captain he would never show anger to the players. He always understood the situation and was really good at saying the right things. He didn’t say an awful lot, but what he said you took notice of.”

With England in mind, Vesty believes clubs like Leicester are at a disadvantage when it comes to losing players for the Six Nations.

“We have to have a deep squad because we lose so many, maybe 14 players. When we’re playing a team like Leeds, who lose no players, it’s pretty unfair really. It’s very difficult and we don’t get any compensation in the salary cap for that, which definitely puts us at a disadvantage. But, we’ve always done well at this time of year because we’ve got such a good squad. This is the time of the year that you win Championships.”

With a few different nationalities in the camp, Sam admits there has been some stick flying around in recent weeks.

“Castro gets a bit for playing for Italy who invariably don’t do very well! To be fair it’s probably worse for the English guys. If we’ve not had a great Six Nations we get a lot of stick from the Southern Hemisphere guys. There are lots of nationalities and the Kiwi’s get all the stick about choking at the World Cup. There’s lots of it flying around, but it’s all fun and partly why we play the game.”

Following in his father’s footsteps as a Tigers player, Sam took up the game at an early age, but admits he didn’t look too far ahead.

“I was surrounded by rugby but I don’t think my aspirations went that far really. My dad was at the local rugby club and then Tigers and I was always kicking the ball around on the pitch afterwards. I played for my local team and my school and things just snowballed. It wasn’t a case of ‘I’m going to do this and strive for it,’ I just enjoyed playing. I think the love of it was the drive, rather than me being that ambitious.”

A keen all-round sportsman, Sam also excelled with the bat as a youngster.

“I used to play a lot of cricket and tennis. When I was 18 I played for Leicestershire seconds at cricket until Dean Richards (Former Tigers Manager) said to me, ‘I’m going to offer you a contract and that will mean you have to give up cricket. Do you want to sign it?’ Obviously, as soon as I signed that I pretty much said goodbye to my cricket, which was sad but I was playing rugby and enjoyed it.”

Still a fan of the game, Sam avidly follows Leicestershire and is delighted with the signing of Ashes hero Matthew Hoggard.

“I follow the cricket team every week and I go down and watch a few games a year. I keep my eye out for the other sports as well, but cricket is my passion and Matthew Hoggard is a great signing for Leicestershire. I’ve got a great amount of respect for Hoggard and my grandad’s a Yorkshireman as well.”

Vesty’s passion for the cricket club is as conspicuous as his love of Leicestershire.

“Leicester’s got its good points and its bad points, but it always gets behind its teams. We always get a lot of good support at the Tigers, and even for the smaller games, we still get 20,000 people. The new developments at the ground are so impressive. You drive down Welford Road and see that massive stand and it’s a real focal point for the city.

“Obviously the profile of Leicester is going up with people like Kasabian, probably one of the biggest rock bands in the world, coming out of Leicester. I love Leicester and always will.”

Looking towards the future and with a number of England internationals plying their trade in France, Vesty won’t rule out the possibility of playing on the continent and embracing a new culture.

“I’d consider it because I love France and used to go there all the time as a kid. I’ve got three young children and it would be brilliant for them to be able to speak French. The chance to be paid to do a job in another country would be a fantastic opportunity.

“I’m not sure how long that market will stay as strong, but there’s obviously a lot of money flying around at the moment. It’s something I’d definitely consider as it’s an opportunity to go and live in the South of France or Paris. What a chance that would be for me and for my family.”

Whether it’s with Tigers, England or abroad, Sam’s main ambitions for the future involve seeing as much action on the pitch as possible.

“The most important thing for me is to be playing rugby. That’s the reason I started and the reason I’ll always want to play. If I could stay injury-free for the rest of my career and play lots of games, then I’d be a happy man.”

Quick Questions…

Toughest Opponent: Butch James.

Best Player Played With: Martin Johnson.

Favourite Ground: Welford Road.

Favourite Position: 10 or 12.

Best Mate in Rugby: Ollie Smith.

Which Tigers Player Gets the Most Stick? George Chuter for his singing!