The 2017/18 campaign marks a 13th season in the first-team squad with Leicester Tigers for international back-rower Tom Croft.

Since making his club debut as a 20-year-old in 2005, Croft has played in five Premiership Finals and on two tours with the British & Irish Lions.

A serious neck injury in 2011/12 sidelined him for eight months, but he returned to play in a win at Worcester in January 2013 and then made his 100th start for Tigers as captain against Sale Sharks in March that year. Two days later he was called back into the England squad for the Six Nations.

The 2012/13 season brought a fourth Premiership title for the former Oakham School pupil and Tigers academy graduate as he looked forward to a second Lions tour after an impressive first trip in 2009 which featured a try on his debut against the Golden Lions and two tries in the first Test against South Africa.

Nominated for Premiership Player of the Year in the 2008/09 and Young Player of the Year in the PRA event, he started both Premiership and Heineken Cup Finals at lock that season.

Croft’s first England cap came in a Six Nations victory in France in 2008 after making an eye-catching breakthrough in a Churchill Cup series triumph with England Saxons.