ULSTER ARE SET to sign Lions and Scotland loosehead prop Rory Sutherland after the termination of his contract with Worcester Warriors.
The move was first reported by Bernard Jackman, a regular on The42 Rugby Weekly Extra podcast.
The42 understands that Sutherland has agreed to join the Irish province for the remainder of the 2022/23 season, with no deal in place beyond next summer.
The 30-year-old has won 20 caps for Scotland, while he was part of last year’s British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa, playing in two of their Tests against the Springboks.
The dynamic, multi-skilled Sutherland broke into professional rugby with Edinburgh and moved to Worcester in 2021. However, his time with the Premiership club ended earlier this week when the company that held Worcester’s players’ contracts was wound up at a court hearing.
Amidst their serious financial issues, the beleaguered English club has been suspended from the Premiership for at least two years and will be relegated to the second-tier Championship next season.
The 113kg Sutherland’s expected move to Ulster comes after other Worcester players confirmed new contracts elsewhere. Scotland and Lions wing Duhan van der Merwe has signed for Edinburgh, while Joe Batley has joined Bristol.
Sutherland looks set to find a new home in Belfast as he links up with Dan McFarland’s side.
Ulster’s loosehead depth chart already includes the experienced Andrew Warwick and Ireland-capped Eric O’Sullivan, as well as 23-year-old Callum Reid, who is currently away with Emerging Ireland.
The northern province have been looking for a top-tier loosehead prop in recent times. Indeed, Ulster continue to be strongly linked with a move for Springboks and Stormers front row Steven Kitshoff after the 2023 World Cup.
While Kitshoff is contracted to the Stormers until 2024, he could be granted permission to leave earlier in order to pursue the opportunity in Ireland.
If Sutherland does move on from Ulster at the end of this season – he will not be short of suitors – the arrival of Kitshoff would be a huge boost for the province after the World Cup.
For now, the signing of Sutherland is set to ensure Ulster add a very mobile, powerful loosehead prop who is well-regarded as a strong scrummager too.
Ulster already have a handful of non-Irish-qualified forwards in New Zealand-capped tighthead prop Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, ex-Wallabies lock Sam Carter, and current Springboks number eight Duane Vermeulen, but it appears that the IRFU is ready to greenlight this deal for Sutherland.
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