Walters aims to give Tigers pack an edge Boks’ style

WHEN Aled Walters left the Scarlets in 2009 not in his wildest dreams could he have envisaged the turn his career would take.

The man from deepest west Wales has travelled the world establishing himself as one of the most well-respected strength and conditioning coaches on the planet.

Having spent time at Taranaki, the Brumbies and Munster before helping South Africa lift the 2019 Rugby World Cup, he now finds himself with Leicester Tigers.

“When I left the Scarlets in 2009 the whole plan was to go to New Zealand and then come back to be head of strength and conditioning with the Scarlets,” Walters, told

“I’ve just been lucky with timing, going from one place to another and being in really good environments where I worked with good coaches.

“One thing has led to another. I couldn’t have envisaged someone from Llangadog ending up with South Africa and then coming to Leicester who are probably the biggest club in England.”

Having immersed himself in several different environments, Walters is one of the most wellrounded individuals in rugby. He acknowledges he wouldn’t have become the coach he has if he had remained in Llanelli 12 years ago.

“It was uncomfortable initially going to New Zealand because things were done so differently to how they were done at the Scarlets,” he said.

“Being part of the Welsh Rugby Union at the time there was a big emphasis on strength and what you do in the gym. It was very important to them.

“Then all of a sudden I’m out in Taranaki in New Zealand and the boys have less of a gym culture.

“They just want to get fit to play. They want to play games rather than straight line running and that sort of stuff.

“It made me appreciate every environment has got something pretty special and pretty unique. Being able to take that information and then grow as a coach is key.”

More recently Walters was the man responsible for ensuring South Africa’s forwards such as Eben Etzebeth, Frans Malherbe, Bongi Mbonambi and Pieter-Steph du Toit were not only physical enough to win a World Cup, but also athletic and comfortable with the ball.

Now he hopes his experiences can benefit Steve Borthwick’s Leicester who he insists play a similar brand of rugby.

“You learn things and take different things from everywhere you’ve been, but the most recent challenge with South Africa was really how fit you could get the tight five,” Walters said. “That was one of the big, big areas. How mobile could they be?

“They were big men but needed the ability to get off the ground quickly and get into the next challenge and the next battle.

“That’s something I’ve been keen to bring to Leicester. There are a lot of similarities because we play a pretty similar game.”

At the moment Walters is purely focused on helping Tigers re-establish themselves as a main force in English rugby, but as an extremely passionate Welshman, with his enthusiastic Carmarthenshire accent lighting up this Zoom call, he would relish the opportunity to one day coach his country.

“As a Welshman I could only dream of coaching Wales sometime in the future,” he said.

“Is it a goal? Yes, but I need to develop myself to be in a position for that if it came up in the future. Definitely at the moment Leicester is my priority.”