Aviva Premiership

Front row trio re-sign with Leicester

ESPN Staff

Leicester front-rowers Dan Cole, Tom Youngs and Marcos Ayerza have signed new deals with the club © Getty Images Enlarge

Leicester Tigers have announced that front-rowers Marcos Ayerza, Tom Youngs and Dan Cole have signed long-term contract extensions with the club.

England internationals Cole and Youngs are graduates of the club's Academy, while loose-head Ayerza moved from his native Argentina in 2006. He has 57 caps for his country over the last decade. Between them, the trio have upwards of 400 appearances for Leicester and 120 Test caps.

Cole and Youngs have struggled with injury in recent months but both appeared in all three Test matches for the British and Irish Lions in Australia in 2013 and have 45 and 17 England caps respectively. Cole debuted for the club in 2007 and Youngs, who started life as a centre before switching to hooker while on loan at Nottingham, first appeared for the club in 2006.

"It is great news for us that Marcos, Tom and Dan have all agreed new contracts with the club," said Director of Rugby Richard Cockerill. "They are all genuine world-class players in key positions in the team and they are important parts of the senior core to the squad.

"Tom and Dan know all about the club, coming through the academy here to establish themselves in the first-team squad, and Leicester has been home to Marcos for the last eight years. They were all very keen to stay and we were very keen to keep them here for the long term, so I'm delighted we have come to an agreement.

"We have a good crop of front-rowers who work well together and they help to get the best out of each other. Marcos, Tom and Dan, with their attitude to training and playing, and their experience at the top levels of the game, play a massive role in that."

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