Saints sign England prop
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Kieran Brookes will join the Premiership champions Northampton from Newcastle Falcons ahhead of the 2015/16 season.
The 24-year-old tighthead prop moves to Franklin's Gardens from the Falcons, where he has played all his senior rugby, bar two seasons spent at Leicester.
Brookes has six caps for England, and while he played for both England Saxons – who he helped win the 2011 Churchill Cup – and England Under-20 and was born in Lancashire, he represented Ireland at Under-18 and Under-19 level before switching to his native country.
Brookes made his Premiership debut for the Falcons in 2009, and in all he has made 51 top flight appearances at his two clubs.
The signing continues Saints' trend of building a squad full of young, English talent, and director of rugby Jim Mallinder says that Brookes has a lot to offer.
"Kieran has steadily risen through the various England representative teams and has shown his quality at each level, building up experience along the way,” he said.
"However while we believe that he can contribute a great deal to our squad we also think that Kieran has a lot more to come, and we are looking forward to seeing him develop as a player at Franklin's Gardens.”
Brookes is looking forward to joining the Saints later in the year.
"I'm looking forward to joining Northampton Saints next season,” he commented.
"Their record over the last few seasons speaks for itself and I'm under no illusions of the quality of squad I'm going in to and the challenge that presents.
"I've really enjoyed my time at the Falcons and in particular working with John Wells and Micky Ward, both of whom have helped me massively, and in the meantime all my efforts will be concentrated on helping us finish as high up the league as we can.”
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