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Northampton Saints sign Gloucester prop Alex Seville on loan as cover

Alex Seville of Gloucester Rugby poses for a portrait during the Gloucester Rugby squad photo call for the 2017-2018 Aviva Premiership Rugby season on August 9, 2017 in Gloucester, England -  Getty Images Europe
Alex Seville of Gloucester Rugby poses for a portrait during the Gloucester Rugby squad photo call for the 2017-2018 Aviva Premiership Rugby season on August 9, 2017 in Gloucester, England - Getty Images Europe

Northampton have signed Alex Seville, the Gloucester prop, as cover for their Champions Cup quarter-final against Exeter Chiefs after European Professional Club Rugby belatedly altered their tournament rules.

With four senior props injured, Northampton were down to a single fit loosehead, 19-year-old Emmanuel Iyogun, which director of rugby Chris Boyd said would lead to the prospect of uncontested scrums in one of European rugby’s showpiece matches. The deadline for registering extra front-row players was September 1 and EPCR were known to be reluctant to set a precedent but have bowed to safety concerns.

“The EPCR Board has unanimously agreed to a change in the Tournament Rules which permits the registration of front row players after the September 1 deadline,” an EPCR statement said. “Northampton Saints have registered Alex Seville for the remainder of the Heineken Champions Cup season and Dragons have registered Conor Maguire for the European Rugby Challenge Cup campaign. Both are eligible to play in this weekend’s quarter-finals.”

Sports Briefing
Sports Briefing

Seville, who arrives on loan for the rest of September, has never started a Premiership match but the 22-year-old has made ten appearances as a replacement. As Boyd said in a press conference on Wednesday, they were not looking to “sign the Beast” to give them a competitive advantage, but merely to allow them to fulfil the match safely while respecting the integrity of the competition.

Even so, Seville will only have one full training session to get up to speed with Northampton’s gameplan. Frustration remains that it has taken more than a week for EPCR to come to a decision, which severely limited Northampton’s recruitment options.

“We are pleased that EPCR have adopted a sensible approach in today’s ruling,” said Mark Darbon, Northampton Saints chief executive. “Given the length of time it took for this decision to be made, and the challenge of bringing in new players at this stage of the season, especially with all of the Covid-19 related measures in place, we would like to thank Gloucester Rugby who have agreed to loan us their 22-year old loosehead prop, Alex Seville, on a short-term basis until the end of September.

“Alex will join up with the squad on Friday and will be available for our European Champions Cup quarter-final match on Sunday. We are also grateful to Exeter Chiefs for the pragmatism they have shown in supporting today’s decision.”