Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Ambitious London Irish nab 113kg Springbok prop Cilliers

Rob Cilliers

London Irish have made promotion intentions clear with the signing of Springbok prop Pat Cilliers.

The 31-year-old, who is joining from Leicester, has played for a host of top clubs including Montpellier, as well as South African Super Rugby outfits the Sharks, Lions and Stormers.

ADVERTISEMENT

On the international stage he played for the Emerging Springboks against the British and Irish Lions in 2009 and won six full caps for South Africa.

Continue reading below…

Video Spacer

Cilliers, who is comfortable playing on both sides of the scrum and has a 186cm, 113kg frame, has played 26 times for the Tigers over the past two seasons.

https://twitter.com/Pat_Cilliers/status/1016690643740037125

Director of rugby Declan Kidney hailed it as an important signing in a key position ahead of the 2018/19 Championship campaign.

“The Championship is a tough league and we need experienced forwards in our squad to meet the challenges in front of us,” he said. “Pat fits the bill – he’s played at the top level of the sport for a number of years and will be a good signing for us.”

Video Spacer
ADVERTISEMENT

Boks Office | Episode 37 | Six Nations Round 4 Review

Cape Town | Leg 2 | Day 2 | HSBC Challenger Series 2025 | Full Day Replay

Gloucester-Hartpury vs Bristol Bears | PWR 2024/25 | Full Match Replay

Boks Office | Episode 36 | Six Nations Round 3 Review

Why did Scotland's Finn Russell take the crucial kick from the wrong place? | Whistle Watch

England A vs Ireland A | Full Match Replay

Kubota Spears vs Shizuoka BlueRevs | JRLO 2024/2025 | Full Match Replay

Watch now: Lomu - The Lost Tapes

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

M
MS 1 hour ago
Why Blair Kinghorn should be nailed on as the Lions starting 15

I can see arguments for both Kinghorn, and Keenan starting for the Lions. But I’m less convinced by some of the claims (clearly partisan) supporters are using to argue the merits of one over the other.


For example, a number of Ireland supporters have suggested Kinghorn is ‘defensively weak’. That’s patently false - or at least on the evidence of this 6N, he’s certainly no weaker there than Keenan is, who is presumably the comparative standard they’re using. Keenan was both shrugged off in contact, and beaten on the edge for pace, a number of times during this competition.


Equally, Scotland supporters arguing Kinghorn is the more capable ‘rugby player’ seem to have overlooked the (frankly sizeable) body of evidence demonstrating that Keenan is an excellent ball in hand distributor and decision maker. So that doesn’t hold up under scrutiny either.


I don’t think there’s all that much to choose between them, and either would be a strong choice. I think it would be really interesting from a pure rugby perspective to see Keenan playing a ‘Scotland-esque’ style of high tempo attacking rugby. Either coming into the line more routinely as first receiver, or being swung as a pendulum and getting the ball on the edge against a stretched defence.


That’s assuming Andy Farrell goes that route, of course. He may well just opt for his Ireland system instead, and populate it with the likes of Henshaw, Ringrose, Lowe and Keenan. I’m sure that would win the series. Quite what effect it might have on a Lions audience who were expecting something other than ‘Ireland on tour, but wearing red’ would remain to be seen.


As for the debate at FB, the only ‘eye test’ difference I feel exists is in the pace of rugby Kinghorn (Toulouse? Scotland?) tends to play. His passing/offload game feels crisper and higher tempo than Keenan’s - and as we saw in Paris, his pace and eye for a gap from deep are superior.


But again, that will only prove a decisive factor if Andy Farrell wants to play that way. If all he wants from his FB is to sit deep, field high balls, and mop up then there’s little between these two equally excellent players.

4 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Why Blair Kinghorn should be nailed on as the Lions starting 15 Why Blair Kinghorn should be nailed on as the Lions starting 15
Search