Whakarāpopototia te tuhinga:  Kua whakapuakihia e Leicester he nekehanga mo te kati Super Rugby Mike Fitzgerald. Kua āwhina te kaitākaro 28 tau o Aotearoa i te kapa Chiefs o Waikato ki te wikitōria i ngā taitara Super Rugby e rua. A, kua whakaritea ia ki te whai i te parirau o Waratahs a Peter Betham, i whakapumautia tana hainatanga e nga Tigers i te Mane, ki Welford Road i te tau e whai ake nei. Ko Mike Fitzgerald, e whakaahuatia ana e tākaro ana mō te Chiefs i te tau kua hipa, ka noho hei kaitiaki mō Leicester Tigers i te tau e whai ake nei. I kii te kaiwhakahaere whutupaoro o Leicester a Richard Cockerill: 'Ka pai a Mike ki ta maatau roopu raka, ina koa ko te reti o Louis Deacon me Brad Thorn. 'Kua tākaro ia i roto i te rōpū tino pai i te Chiefs, ā, ināianei e hiahia ana ia ki te wheako o te tākaro whutupōro ki Uropi.' I tāpiri atu a Fitzgerald: 'I aroha ahau ki taku wā e tākaro ana mō te Chiefs me te (Manawatu) Turbos i Aotearoa, engari e whakaaro ana au koinei te wā tika ki te neke me taku whānau taitamariki ki te United Kingdom.' Ka whai te tangata o Aotearoa i a Peter Betham (matau) ki Welford Road i a Leicester e whakarite ana mō te tau e whai ake nei.
Ka tāpirihia e Leicester a Mike Fitzgerald nō Aotearoa ki ō rātou rārangi i te tau e whai ake nei. Kua whakapumautia e ngā Tigers te hainatanga o te parirau o Waratahs a Peter Betham. Kua āwhina a Fitzgerald i te kapa Chiefs o Waikato ki te wikitōria i ngā taitara Super Rugby e rua.