Leicester Tigers contracts for Brooksby Melton College pair

George and Leo, both 18, recently completed their Level 3 Extended Diplomas in Sport at BMC, where they lived on-site at the 850-acre Brooksby Campus.

They played a key role in the Tigers Academy’s back-to-back league titles over the past two seasons, and now step up to the development set-up where they will train full-time with senior players like Manu Tuilagi, George Ford and Dan Cole.

The pair also helped the Brooksby Melton College side to win the Under-18 Schools County Cup title earlier this year.

Nottingham-born lock Martin played his early rugby for Loughborough Grammar before joining BMC and has represented England at age-group level, while Gilliland came through junior rugby in the West Midlands before moving to Leicester, and qualifies for Wales Under 19s through a grandparent.

Brooksby Melton College enjoys a unique partnership with Leicester Tigers, delivering the Achieving Academic and Sporting Excellence (AASE) programme that sees students play in college competitions while players receive up to eight hours of coaching and rugby a week.

James Thorne, Head of Faculty at BMC, said: “This is a unique programme for young striving rugby players to gain top-class coaching and play the highest standard of college rugby, while experiencing an environment with high expectations in education, rugby and life.”

Applications are open for September 2020/21 for all Leicester Tigers BMC courses, including the elite AASE Programme (selection), Development Programme (open to all abilities) and sport science degree programmes (all abilities).

Visit www.brooksbymelton.ac.uk