#3. Mike Willemse from London Irish
Willemse is a South African hooker who joins having played most recently in the Premiership for London Irish where he made 15 appearances since signing in 2021.
In his first campaign with London Irish, he featured heavily, including playing in all six of their games during the Exileβs run to the 2022 Premiership Cup final, which they agonisingly lost in extra time.
Before coming to the U.K, the hooker was a dominant force in the southern hemisphere. He practiced his craft at Grey High School in Port Elizabeth.
2013 proved to be a breakout season for Willemse, scoring three tries in six starts during the Varsity Cup for the UCT Ikey Tigers.
He would then go on to be included in the South Africa U20s squad for the 2013 Junior World Championship where he played in three games, and scored twice against the United States.
In 2014, he was called up to the Stormers Super Rugby Squad and would go on to make four appearances before moving to the Eastern Province Kings, Golden Lions, and then the Southern Kings.
After eight tries and 42 appearances for Southern Kings, Willemse moved to Edinburgh for two seasons where he scored six times in 40 games, before then moving down to Irish.
After signing with Trailfinders, Willemse said: βIβm excited to get going with another ambitious club London.
βIβve learned a lot since moving to the U.K and Iβm looking forward to bringing that knowledge to Trailfinders as we hunt for silverware.β
Director of Rugby Ben Ward said: βIβm thrilled to welcome Mike to the pack. He will provide tremendous competition across the front row as well boosting our set-piece and being a force in the loose.
βItβs great to sign someone of his pedigree and he will be a fine addition to this group of players.β
#4. Tom Collins from Northampton
The winger was originally heading to London Irish prior to the Premiership sides collapse.
Collins has been with Northampton Saints since his professional rugby debut that came in 2010 and has racked up 144 appearances scoring 48 tries in it. He also was part of the Saints squad that was involved in 2018/19 Premiership Rugby Cup win.
He also had loan stints with Coventry, Moseley and Rotherham Titans.
The 28-year-old also was part of the England Under 20 side that went on to win Under-20 Six Nations title in 2013.
βIβll always be grateful to Northampton, itβs the Club I have grown up supporting and was lucky enough to play for, but I felt my time was coming to an end and a new opportunity was on the horizon,β he told the club’s official website.