Tom West says restarting his career at Leicester Tigers got him off the sofa and helped him mentally recover from the demise of former club Wasps.

He had been without a club for three months after Wasps went into administration.

"I was definitely down and out a bit," he told BBC Radio Leicester.

"I'd been at Wasps since I was 15 years old and to just see it go up in smoke was a nightmare."

West said the reality of the situation hit him a few days after being among the 167 players and staff to be told they were being made redundant by a club that had twice reached the Premiership final in recent years.

"I didn't process it for three or four days," he said.

"Then, I'll be quite honest, I was putting laundry away and I broke down. It was everything I'd known since I left school. It was really emotional.

"It was quite bleak. I struggled to keep motivation for those first couple of months. I did a bit of gym here and there, but it was very much long days on the sofa staring at my phone waiting for a call from somewhere."

With Premiership rivals Worcester Warriors suffering a similar fate weeks earlier, West said it "didn't help massively" when trying to find a club willing to take another player on board during the campaign.

He finally got a call in January from champions Leicester, a side that had lost head coach Steve Borthwick to the England national team in December and which was trying to steady themselves in their title defence after an inconsistent start to the campaign.

West, who will leave Leicester at the end of the season to join Saracens, played a part in the six straight wins - starting in five of them - which helped Tigers secure a play-off spot.

Tigers travel to Sale on Sunday for their semi-final to decide who goes on to the Twickenham final on 27 May.

"Having the opportunity to come here, go on the run we've been on, and play so much rugby, had been amazing," West said.

"It took me three of four weeks to get back to match fitness - they really helped me with that, after a couple of months of eating badly and not being a healthy human being mentally and physically.

"I love the environment, the coaches, and playing in big games.

"I've really been enjoying my rugby and found a groove."