21-year-old Lions backrow set to follow dad to England

Ruan Ackermann – the son of the now former Lions head-coach Johann Ackermann looks set to join his dad at Gloucester if reports from South Africa are to be believed.

According to South African newspaper Rapport the 6’4, 108kg 21-year-old looks set to join the Premiership side, who last week stated it was their intention to bolster their squad with some big name forward signings.

Gloucester confirmed this morning that Leicester lock Ed Slater would be making his way to Kingsholm in a swap deal with Leicester Tigers, which will see England ace Jonny May head to the midlands club.

Speaking on their recruitment campaign, Director of Rugby David Humphreys alluded to the fact that Ackermann senior wants to make the Gloucester pack one to be feared.

“Jonny approached the club and explained he wanted to leave Gloucester and immediately our attention turned to strengthening the squad and the type of person we needed to recruit.

“Johan [Ackermann] has made it very clear that we need to dominate teams up front if we are to be successful and we feel that Ed’s inclusion in the squad will add a lot to that key objective.”

“We’ve made no secret of our intent to have an abrasive forward unit and Ed’s (Slater) skillset is exactly what we have been looking for.”

Ruan Ackermann has been mentioned as a possible signing.

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