Jimmy Gopperth faced up to the brutal reality of rugby’s financial crisis as he braced himself to join the jobless.
Gopperth has been a match winner for 20 years at the highest level of the club game, good enough to replace Jonny Wilkinson at Newcastle and Johnny Sexton at Leinster.
At Wasps he was Premiership player of the year while in his one season at Leicester he has helped the champions reach the play-offs.
