New hooker on board at Gloucester after raid on Pirates

Gloucester have bolstered their depleted hooker stocks by signing Morgan Nelson from Cornish Pirates.

With George McGuigan sidelined with a hamstring injury for an extended period of time, Gloucester have been reliant on Jack Singleton and Seb Blake for the past month.

But Nelson has now come on board, joining the Cherry & Whites with immediate effect.

It continues the long tradition of player transfer between the two clubs with players like Rob Cook and Jonny Bentley, and more recently Kyle Moyle, having made the move in the past.

Former Wales U18 international Morgan has made 49 appearances for the Pirates, scoring an impressive 29 tries.

Nelson could make his debut against Newcastle at Kingsholm on Saturday, the day he turns 25, which would make for an extra special birthday as the Ross-on-Wye-born player  was a Gloucester fan growing up.

Nelson said: "It's a privilege to be back at Kingsholm. Spending some time in the Academy here when I was a youngster, the dream was always to pull on the Cherry & White at Kingsholm.

"I feel like I've developed a lot as a player and a person from my time at both Cornish Pirates and Cardiff Met and I'm ready to make the step up and test myself at the next level.

"I'm really grateful for the opportunity and I'm looking forward to getting started."