Guinness Premiership champions Leicester Tigers have signed England international Anthony Allen and forward Geoff Parling.
Allen, 22, and 25-year-old Parling, join in the build-up to the new season and were unveiled at the launch of the Tigers' new home kit on Friday at the headquarters of club sponsor Caterpillar.
Centre Allen scored 22 tries in 91 games for Gloucester, and was capped by England against New Zealand and Argentina in autumn 2006.
Parling is a versatile forward who can play in the second row or at blindside and has represented England up to under-21.
He made 116 appearances for Newcastle where he was the club’s players’ player of the year in the 2005/06 season and has captained their first XV on a number of occasions.
Tigers head coach Richard Cockerill said: “They are two young English players.
“Anthony Allen has played a couple of Tests and he is still only 22. He is a good, skilful player and hopefully will develop in the Leicester Tigers environment.
“Geoff Parling is in his mid-20s, he is a really good athlete and now he is in our environment we hope that he will go from strength to strength as lots of other players have done in the past.
“We think they are both very good players. Their mentality and the type of person that they are will fit very well into the Tigers environment.”
Allen, 22, and 25-year-old Parling, join in the build-up to the new season and were unveiled at the launch of the Tigers' new home kit on Friday at the headquarters of club sponsor Caterpillar.
Centre Allen scored 22 tries in 91 games for Gloucester, and was capped by England against New Zealand and Argentina in autumn 2006.
Parling is a versatile forward who can play in the second row or at blindside and has represented England up to under-21.
He made 116 appearances for Newcastle where he was the club’s players’ player of the year in the 2005/06 season and has captained their first XV on a number of occasions.
Tigers head coach Richard Cockerill said: “They are two young English players.
“Anthony Allen has played a couple of Tests and he is still only 22. He is a good, skilful player and hopefully will develop in the Leicester Tigers environment.
“Geoff Parling is in his mid-20s, he is a really good athlete and now he is in our environment we hope that he will go from strength to strength as lots of other players have done in the past.
“We think they are both very good players. Their mentality and the type of person that they are will fit very well into the Tigers environment.”
Allen said: "I am looking forward to my time at Tigers. I am looking forward to getting our pre-season games under way and, if selected, getting some game time and taking it from there."
Parling added: "I am loving it at Tigers. The guys have helped me settle in and I can't wait to get started."
Tigers have confirmed that South African fly-half Derick Hougaard has joined Guinness Premiership rivals Saracens.
Hougaard joined Tigers 12 months ago after following Heyneke Meyer from the Blue Bulls. He scored 98 points in 13 appearances for the club, including crucial kicks at Ospreys in the Heineken Cup and a try in the home win over Harlequins in the Guinness Premiership.
