Leicester recruit White to aid rebuilding process

It seems only a few months ago that Julian White, the implacably hostile tight-head prop who occasionally flexes his muscles on behalf of the England cause, picked a fight with the entire Leicester front row and earned himself a 10-week suspension for aiming a butt at Graham Rowntree, his colleague at international level. In fact, it was only a few months ago - last September, to be precise. White, then playing for Bristol, was sent off inside two minutes and missed the autumn Test series at Twickenham as a result.

And now, he has joined... you guessed it, Leicester. The 30-year-old Devonian, probably the most destructive scrummager in Premiership rugby and possibly the most aggressive, is the latest player to react to Bristol's relegation from the top echelon by making his apologies and leaving without further ado. "He is just the sort of player to strengthen our squad," said Dean Richards, the director of rugby at Welford Road. White will certainly do that.

He is a big capture, in every sense, standing over 6ft and weighing 18st plus - proportions that ensure he loses nothing to Phil Vickery of Gloucester, his great rival for England preferment, in terms of ballast. There are other parallels: both West Countrymen are worryingly prone to injury, and both have been known to lose their bearings when the red mist descends. White is more troublesome than Vickery these days, but neither is noted for pacifism. Together, they will be a cornerstone of England's World Cup effort in Australia this autumn.

Having been linked with Leicester from the moment Bristol's demise was confirmed, White must be relieved the move is finally out in the open. "I'm 30 now, and I want to play some decent rugby," he said, in a tone unlikely to endear him to the rugby aficionados of Bristol. "Leicester's track record speaks for itself. I am looking to anchor my place in the England team, and there is only one place to do it."

Once his World Cup commitments are done and dusted, White will fill the not inconsiderable hole left in the Leicester front row by Franck Tournaire, the outsized Frenchman from Toulouse, who has returned home for personal reasons. But there is more to the move than a simple like-for-like arrangement. A long way off the pace this season after four successive Premiership titles and unprecedented back-to-back victories in the Heineken Cup, the Midlanders are now engaged in a root-and-branch restructuring of their side. The old order has either gone, or is on its way out - Darren Garforth is retiring, and the likes of Martin Johnson, Neil Back and Dorian West are unlikely to be far behind him. Leicester have their share of bright young talent, but they need some iron to go with it. White is positively ferric.

Bristol, meanwhile, have lost another of their big hitters. Felipe Contepomi, the medical student from Argentina whose bad days were comfortably outnumbered by his world-class weeks, is moving to Dublin, where he will continue his studies at Trinity College while earning a very lucrative living as Leinster's new outside-half. Described by Matt Williams, the Leinster coach, as "one of the world's top playmakers and goal-kickers", Contepomi has negotiated a four-year contract at Donnybrook - an unusually beneficial deal in an era of short-term agreements.

Leinster were semi-finalists in this season's Heineken Cup, but underperformed against Perpignan and passed up a gilt-edged opportunity. One of the reasons for their unexpected demise was a glaring weakness at stand-off, where Christian Warner failed to exert even the slightest authority on proceedings. The departure of the gifted Andrew Dunne to Harlequins rendered the cupboard worryingly bare, so Contepomi's arrival in November will be celebrated in the fair city.

There was further movement among the front-row troglodytes yesterday when Matt Cairns, the Liverpudlian hooker whose recent form for Saracens earned him a place in England's experimental squad for this weekend's match with the Barbarians, joined Sale. The loss of Cairns, just turned 24, is another slap in the face for a club who have long prided themselves on developing new talent. Stuart Hooper, another home-grown forward, is moving to Leeds, while the exceptional David Flatman is going to Bath.

Talking of the Recreation Grounders, Bath's coaches are fast resigning themselves to losing most, if not all, of their large Welsh contingent to the Principality's new regional teams over the next year. Nathan Thomas has already been linked with Cardiff, and the chase is on for Gareth Cooper, Andy Williams, Gavin Thomas and Gareth Delve. All five are likely to be included in the 22 for this weekend's Parker Pen Challenge Cup final with Wasps at Reading.