Departing Edinburgh icon returns from injury to help Leicester Tigers secure Gallagher Prem play-off spot

The 34-year-old came off the bench as his team secured a 47-33 win away to Sale Sharks, making just his fourth appearance for Geoff Parling’s side. The result secured a top-three Gallagher Premiership finish for the East Midlands outfit and booked their spot in next month’s play-offs.

Fellow Scotland internationals Will Hurd and Cameron Henderson also featured from the bench in the victory. Sharks, meanwhile, had Scottish scrum-half Gus Warr and winger Arron Reed among their replacements, with the latter scoring a late consolation try for the hosts.

Leicester Tigers join Bath and Northampton Saints in 2026 Gallagher Premiership play-offs

They join Finn Russell’s Bath in the play-offs who also have centres Cameron Redpath and Chris Harris as well as flanker Josh Bayliss representing Scotland. The other team to have already guaranteed a play-off spot are Northampton Saints, who also count four Scots amongst their ranks in internationals Rory Hutchison and Elliot Millar-Mills plus former Glasgow Warriors’ men Amena Caqusau and Robbie Smith.

There are now just two rounds of regular season fixtures remaining in English rugby’s top flight season with three more clubs chasing the final play-off berth. They are Exeter Chiefs, Saracens and Bristol Bears. Chiefs include former Scotland under 20 scrum-half Charlie Chapman amongst their ranks while fly-half Tom Jordan is a regular for Bears.

The former Glasgow Warrior is directly up against Sarries’ counterpart Fergus Burke with both number 10s looking to impresses national team boss Gregor Townsend ahead of this summer’s inaugural Rugby Nations Championship fixtures. The London based club also have back rower Andy Onyeama-Christie on their books, another player who will hope to force his way into more Test match minutes during the fixtures with Argentina, South Africa and Fiji.

The Gallagher Premiership play-offs take place next month with the team who finishes first hosting the team who finishes fourth in the regular league season and team who finishes second hosting the team who comes third. The two winners from those matches then meet in the Grand Final which will take place at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday, June 20.

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