London Scottish have today moved to bolster their forward pack ahead of the 2014/15 season by signing former Ireland under-20 prop Stewart Maguire.
The 24-year-old will join this summer from National League One side Esher after putting pen to paper on a two-year deal.
Maguire is a product of the Newport Gwent Dragons Academy where he spent time learning his trade as a teenager before moving to New Zealand for ten months to play club rugby.
He then joined Leinster during which time he won the Six Nations Under-20s championship with Ireland before signing for Connacht, competing in both the RaboDirectPRO12 and the Heineken Cup.
He made the move to Esher in the summer of 2012 and has made nearly 50 appearances in his two seasons there whilst working as Head of Rugby at St George's Junior School.
The prospect of a return to full-time rugby, however, was too good to refuse and he will join up with his new teammates in time for pre-season.
“As soon as the opportunity arose to join London Scottish, I have not stopped thinking about it,” Maguire said this week.
“You can see by their results in the last three years that London Scottish as a club keep getting better and better and I cannot wait to get stuck in at training and concentrate all my efforts on rugby again.”
He continued: “I feel National One is a fantastic breeding ground for a front five forward but next season I look forward to testing myself against some top players in the Greene King IPA Championship.
“I like to get my hands on the ball and enjoy that side of things but ultimately you are judged on the set piece and that aspect of my game has gone really well over the past couple of years.”
London Scottish Head Coach James Buckland said: “We played against Esher in pre-season and Stewart gave us problems at the set piece.
“We have monitored his progress since then and he has all the attributes to push on to the next level.
“He was involved at a very high standard in Ireland and he is motivated and hungry to grasp this opportunity to return to full-time rugby.”
