Exeter have signed South African prop Ethan Burger for the rest of the season.
The 24-year-old played for Blues Bulls’ under-20 side and was spotted by Exeter’s coaches playing university rugby in his homeland.
He joins having most recently played for University of Pretoria side Tuks Rugby and will be the fourth new prop to move to Sandy Park since the end of last season.
“People we’ve been working with knew we were looking for a big, mobile front row forward,” Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter said.
“Ethan became available as he was starting to finish his university studies and we see him as someone with probably the potential to play both loosehead and hooker, so he’s here on a short term basis initially for the rest of the season for us to see his potential.
“Hopefully we’ll start to see that now and he can have some involvement perhaps in our friendly against Australian touring side Stockman Rugby and then going into the Premiership Rugby Cup.
“Then once we get up and running, it will be for him to take an opportunity. I think people will be quite excited with his power and speed. So we’ve just got to get him settled in now and ready to play.”