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Glasgow Warriors sign former Munster and Ireland out-half Ian Keatley
By Ciarán Kennedy
Ian Keatley has found a new club after Benetton Treviso agreed to terminate the out-half's contract early. Keatley joined Benetton on a two-year deal in 2019, but had been left out of the team since early December. The out-half has now agreed a short-term deal with Glasgow Warriors, who have been linked with a string of out-halves since it was confirmed that Adam Hastings will join Gloucester in the summer, including highly-rated Munster youngster Ben Healy.
Only former Glasgow Warriors fly-half Dan Parks and Wales’ Dan Biggar can claim to have scored more points in the Guinness PRO14 than Keatley, 33, who has amassed 1,524 points over 13 years in the competition.
"Ian has been a fantastic player over the years for Munster, Connacht and more recently at Benetton," said head coach, Danny Wilson.
"His experience will be great from a performance point of view. He will also be invaluable to the development of our young players, including the likes of Ross Thompson, and also enable us to look at Pete [Horne] in his natural position of inside centre."
The fly-half’s 212 appearances in the competition are surpassed only by his former Connacht captain John Muldoon, with the Dubliner having also been a part of a Munster squad that reached six semi-finals in his eight seasons at Thomond Park.
Keatley made his Ireland debut in May 2009, scoring 10 points in a victory over Canada. His most recent start for the men in green came in the autumn of 2017, when he slotted the match-winning kick in a 23-20 win over Fiji.
He becomes the first Irish international to represent Glasgow Warriors since James Downey, the centre having pulled on a Glasgow shirt on seven occasions in the 2014/15 campaign.
On joining the club Keatley said: "It’s a strange time to be joining the team with everything that’s going on with COVID, however I’m really happy to be joining a club and a city with a proud rugby history.
"I’m looking forward to being able to start on a fresh slate with Glasgow and I’m excited to begin working with Danny and his coaching team. This club is a top-quality outfit and I’m relishing the chance to be able to play alongside some of its top-quality talent."
Danny Wilson continued: "It’s apparent and appropriate to suggest that we need to add an experienced fly-half to our situation that we are currently in.
"In our last recruitment cycle, before the season started, we wanted to bring in both a 15 and a 10. However, we didn’t get the opportunity to do that due to COVID.
"Pete Horne has done a great job for us at fly-half this season; however, 12 is his favoured position and with his recent concussion problems and Adam Hastings’ shoulder, we need bring in some experience at fly-half for the last six months of the season.
"We now have that opportunity and we are chuffed to be able to bring in someone of Ian’s quality, experience and knowledge into the squad."
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