Argentinean international Martin Schusterman will be able to give his Leeds Carnegie team mates the inside line on new Leicester Tigers coach Marcelo Loffreda.

The back-rower and his Leeds team-mates take on Leicester at Headingley Carnegie on Saturday.

Schusterman, who returned to Leeds starting line up for last week's victory over French club Dax, knows the new Leicester boss from their days at the San Isidro club in Buenos Aires.

Having been coached by his former mentor at club level, Schusterman earned all of his 17 caps for the Pumas under the new Leicester boss including appearing in the World Cup in France.

For Schusterman though, Saturday is more about proving himself against Leicester, more than putting one over his old boss.

"First and foremost, I am looking forward to playing against Leicester, they are a top team full of big players.

"We are at home and it is a big challenge for us but, at the same time, it is good to be playing a team with an Argentinean coach.

"Marcelo will be very good at Leicester, he is a very intelligent man and, if he is given the support of his staff and the fans, he will do good things at Leicester.

"It will take time for him to adapt to a new culture and language as well as understand the way games go in England.

"It is a different scenario to Test rugby but once he has acquainted himself with all that he will be very good for the Tigers.

"He was a centre as a player and he puts a big emphasis on defence.

"He is a great motivator and he is very good at analysing teams and knowing players strengths and weaknesses both on his own side and in the opposition. He is a great strategist and knows how to plan to break teams down.

"It is a mark of how far we have come in Argentina that we have got our first coach in the Guinness Premiership. It is good for Argentinean rugby.

"Hopefully, it will bring players and coaches to Europe and we can keep developing as a rugby nation and then we can bring that experience back home to Argentina."

The World Cup brought down the curtain on Loffreda's time in charge of the Pumas and Schusterman believes it was a fitting tribute to the effort of their coach and a number of senior players who had been with the side throughout the whole journey.

"It was the best way possible to send him off. He has been Head Coach for eight years and it was a good way to finish that process.

"We now have a different coach and different team for the future but finishing third was a great way to end that last era. He contributed loads to that along with a few of the senior players and together we achieved great things.

"We have got the quality to compete in international competitions and hopefully we can get in to a regular tournament so we can keep improving and heading in the right direction," added Schusterman.

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