He may have moved 120 miles away, but there is one piece of Leicester that former Tigers player Dan Hipkiss can't live without – his biltong.
The centre relocated to the south west of England after making the switch from Tigers to Bath in 2011.
However, Dan, who played 130 times for Leicester – scoring 150 points in his Tigers career – still receives regular deliveries of the dehydrated beef snack biltong from Clarendon Park butcher W Archer and Son.
The shop's owner, Sean Jeynes, posts 2kg of the meaty treat to Bath every month to keep his customer happy.
Dan, who has 13 international caps, said: "Rugby players need quite a lot of protein and this is a really easy way of getting that extra protein. And it's better than snacking on something else, like carrot cake."
Biltong contains about 40g of protein for every 100g of beef and very few carbohydrates, making it ideal for sportsmen and women.
Sean began producing the South African-inspired meat snack about four years ago.
He said: "My main customers are South African ex-pats and athletes. It's a good snack for people on diets to have, too."
Sean has drummed up numerous customers and is planning on marketing the biltong throughout Leicester – in pubs and as a health food.
He said: "An Afrikaans student came in one day, about four years ago, and said he wanted some beef to make his own biltong at home.
"He made me some and I thought it would be great to start making my own and selling it in the shop.
"Now, I want to expand and start selling to pubs and sports clubs, but there's still some work to do yet."
Biltong is made by dehydrating strips of cured beef, which has been spiced and seasoned.
Each month, Sean uses about 10kg of beef to make 5kg of biltong – but hopes to up his production in the coming months.
Aviva Premiership player Dan said Sean's dried beef had the seal of approval from his South African teammates at Bath. "Some of the South African lads at the club make their own – they love it," he said. "I've given them some of Sean's and they said it's on par with the stuff they get back home."
