Richard Cockerill hints at Leicester Tigers stay for Mathew Tait

Leicester Tigers head coach Richard Cockerill has revealed that Mathew Tait could still remain at the club beyond the end of the current season.

The 29-year-old agreed a deal to join French side Bayonne in January, but financial difficulties for the Top 14 club and a potential merger with rivals Biarritz have cast doubt over his move across the Channel.

Cockerill revealed that he would be interested in pursuing any opportunity to keep the 38-capped England international, pointing to a similar situation with Niki Goneva last season.

"I think that's far from getting to a conclusion yet with Bayonne. There's a possibility that he may well stay. It's a wait-and-see but it's not a dead duck," Cockerill is quoted as saying by PA.

"If there's an opportunity to keep him here we would pursue that. Taity's been very good for us, he's a good leader, he's got a lot of experience and he's stayed fit and been pretty robust.

"We had similar issues with Niki Goneva with Castres last year, who signed a contract there but eventually stayed: to all intents and purposes Niki is still contracted to Castres, but he hasn't played for them yet."

Leicester face Bath in the semi-finals of the Aviva Premiership this Saturday.