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Ireland centre Robbie Henshaw is to join Leinster on a three-year deal in July
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The 22-year-old will see out the remainder of his contract with Connacht
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He looks set to fill the void left by the impending departures of Ian Madigan and Ben Te’o
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Leinster also confirmed the signing today of former Munster lock Ian Nagle
The IRFU has confirmed centre Robbie Henshaw will join Leinster from Connacht in July on a three-year contract.
The contract will last from July up until the end of the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.
Ultimately, the prospect of playing week in, week out with Johnny Sexton and availing of the state of the art facilities on offer at Leinster’s UCD base swayed him in favour of a move that will bring his life-long association with Connacht to an end.
Henshaw, who has established himself as an Ireland regular under Joe Schmidt since making his senior debut, has 17 caps for the men in green to date.
“I would like to thank Connacht Rugby, the IRFU and Leinster for allowing me time to consider my future,” Henshaw said.
“This has been a long and difficult process and while I am sorry to be leaving Connacht I look forward to the next chapter of my rugby career at Leinster.
“The support I have enjoyed from the fans in the Sportsground and throughout the province is something that I really value and I want to thank them for four great years.”
Leinster also confirmed the signing today of former Munster lock Ian Nagle.
Nagle is a student in the illustrious MBA business course at Cambridge and took a break from rugby 18 months ago.
Leo Cullen said:”It is well documented at this stage that Ian took a sabbatical from rugby at the end of the 2013/14 season to pursue educational opportunities most recently at Cambridge University. He has however made a return to rugby with London Irish and was involved last weekend in their win against Worcester.
“He is also relatively young at 27 and I think he will add even more experience and competition to an already competitive second row roster.”