The former Tigers and England hooker had a Leicester career spanning two decades as player, coach and then director of rugby.

Cockerill joined the club as a player in 1992 and became a member of the famous ‘ABC Club’ front row alongside Graham Rowntree and Darren Garforth, making 262 first-team appearances, winning five league titles, two domestic cups and back-to-back Heineken Cups. He also earned 27 caps for England, including the 1999 World Cup.

After two years with Montferrand in France, Cockerill returned to Leicester for a second spell as a player and joined the coaching staff, initially with the Academy players.

He was forwards coach under Pat Howard and stepped up as interim head coach at the start of 2007/08 and again during 2008/09 before being named head coach as Tigers won the Premiership title and reached the Heineken Cup Final that season.

Tigers retained the Premiership crown in 2010 and Cockerill became Director of Rugby in July that year with Matt O’Connor becoming head coach.

The team reached the Premiership Final again in 2011 and 2012, as well as winning the Anglo-Welsh LV= Cup in 2011/12, and the team collected a record 10th league title with victory at Twickenham in May 2013.

He left the club in January 2017 and joined Toulon on a short-term basis before becoming head coach at Edinburgh Rugby.