WHILE the Tigers still search for another second row, the impending arrival of former Super 12 fly-half Blair Feeney is creating a wave of excitement at the Park Lane home of National One bound Sedgley Park.

"We are expecting a heck of a lot from him," said player-coach Tim Fourie: "Along with Jimmy Pontin Blair is our big summer signing.

"He has the pedigree and all the right experience. He's played Super 12, he's played full-time in Italy and at 29 he is the right age.

"He strikes us as a player who can handle pressure and be a leader.

"We've been looking for someone to lead the backs on the field and coach them off it, and we'll be speaking to him about that.

"He played last year in Italy for Viadana, one of the better clubs over there that won most of their games.

"I wouldn't have thought the level was much higher than the top National One teams. That tells me he can more than cope with the level we'll be playing at.

"He's a Kiwi, born and bred to play rugby and everyone we've spoken to about him has said nothing but good things about him and how well we have done to sign him.

"Everyone wants to put pressure on a 10 so he's going to be a target no matter where he plays.

"To help him out we need parity up front and to feed him good clean ball.

"That means the forwards are going to have to go through the phases and set the platform right, while scrum-half Dave McCormack, who's a tough kid, is going to have to play his part by taking some of the pressure off.

"The name of the game these days is spoiling, but you can't afford to wrap guys up in cotton wool and Blair comes with a reputation for being able to look after himself.

"He joins us next week and I can't wait, he'll have a week of training with us before we play our first pre-season games, away to Doncaster the following weekend."