Leinster finally sign Thorn

Leinster have finally ended the longer-than-expected process of bringing Brad Thorn to Dublin by signing the Kiwi World Cup winner on a three-month contract that shores up a gaping hole in their second-row.

The European champions were facing a major short-term dilemma with captain Leo Cullen currently recuperating from surgery and Steven Sykes having returned to South Africa. But the capture of the 37-year-old, who arrives from Japan where he had been lining out with Fukuoka Sanix Blues since the World Cup final defeat of France in October, has been hailed by scrum-half Eoin Reddan.

“He has big experience and hopefully he’ll add a lot. The dressing-room at Leinster is quite a strong dressing-room, the way we train and all that kind of stuff, and from what I hear of Brad he’s exactly the same so hopefully he’ll be a nice fit.