Gloucester snatches highly rated No. 8

NEWS: Gloucester has confirmed the signing of Jack Mann from United Rugby Championship side Glasgow Warriors, ahead of the 2025/26 season.

The 25-year-old will arrive at Kingsholm to fill a space at the back of the scrum left by Zach Mercer, who is expected to return to the Top 14 with Toulon after an unsuccessful attempt to break into Steve Borthwick’s England team and add to his two caps over the past two seasons.

Mann was called into Gregor Townsend’s Scotland squad during the Six Nations. The 115kg forward could make his debut this summer when Scotland faces Fiji and Samoa.

This season he has overcome a series of injury setbacks to string together a series of impressive performances for Glasgow to catch the eye of Cherry and Whites Director of Rugby George Skivington and his recruitment team.

Mann’s performances were also enough to see Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend call him in to train with the national team ahead of the Six Nations, although he didn’t end up earning his first cap.

Explaining why he has signed Mann with international number eights Zach Mercer and Albert Tuisue set to depart Kingsholm this summer, Skivington said: “First and foremost, Jack is a big and powerful athlete, and that’s exactly the sort of profile we wanted to add to our back row, so that’s really pleasing. We feel he’ll complement our other back row options well.

“Jack’s had a great season, with some phenomenal performances for Glasgow this year and was rightly rewarded with an international call-up for the Six Nations, which shows how highly he’s rated.”

Mann added: “I’m delighted to sign for Gloucester Rugby ahead of the 2025/26 season. “It’s an iconic club and everybody knows how special Kingsholm and the Gloucester fans are, it’ll be an honour to pull the jersey on in front of them.