Scottish lock Hines set to join Leinster from Perpignan

SCOTTISH lock Nathan Hines, currently in South Africa with the British and Irish Lions, is to quit French side Perpignan to join Heineken Cup champions Leinster.

French media reports suggested yesterday that Leinster have been chasing the 32-year-old, who was born in Australia, for several weeks, and that Perpignan club president Paul Goze has indicated that he will not oppose the departure of the abrasive second row.

Although Hines has a year remaining on his contract left to run, it’s understood that an agreement has been reached between all parties to allow him to leave for Ireland. In any case his time in France had probably come to an end anyway: Hines spent four years with Perpignan, but missed out on the exciting climax to the Catalan side’s 2008-9 season, when they won the French championship for the first time in over 40 years.

The second row was unavailable as he had chosen to tour with the Lions rather than play in the final phase of the Top 14.

The big Scot dropped out of the international game in 2005 when he was believed to have fallen out with then national coach Matt Williams, but returned to play for Frank Hadden.

In Leinster he will be seen as a natural replacement for Rocky Elsom, the Australian flanker who inspired the Irish province to their first Heineken Cup this year before returning down under to play for the ACT Brumbies and the Wallabies.

Hines has bonded well with Irish players on the Lions tour; in his column for the Scotsman newspaper last weekend he wrote: “Remember the time Eddie O’Sullivan accused me of choking Ronan O’Gara? Load of nonsense which Rog exposed as garbage in his autobiography.

“Anyway, Drico and Donners (Donncha O’Callaghan) had fun with it. They claimed that Denis Leamy had seen me do it. Then they said, ‘Mind you, Leamy claims he saw who shot JFK’.”

Meanwhile, the New Leinster rugby jersey will be unveiled this morning at the Leinster Rugby Store in Donnybrook at 9am. The Heineken Cup will also be in the store.

The range of sportswear includes alternate, supporters and training jerseys, polo shirts, ladies jersey, hoodies and so forth. All jerseys are priced between €40 and €60. Members of the Leinster team will be in Lifestyle Sports, Mary Street (beside the Jervis Shopping Centre, Dublin) and the Leinster Rugby Store from 5pm to 6pm to launch the jersey.