Northampton Saints have signed London Irish lock Chunya Munga following the demise of their Premiership rivals.
The 22-year-old made 53 appearances for Irish, who were suspended from the competition last week before going into administration.
Former England Under-20 international Munga said it had been “a challenging few weeks”.
“I am one of the lucky ones who has been able to find a new home straight away,” he continued.
“I want to take this opportunity to say that I cannot thank the coaches, players, on and off-field staff, and all the supporters at London Irish enough for everything they have given me. I couldn’t have got to this position without all of them.”
Munga said he is “confident” about his move to Franklin’s Gardens and that he will “put in all my energy into the team” after his immediate future in the game was thrown into disarray by Irish’s financial collapse.
“I’m very grateful and excited to be able to focus on playing rugby again and being within a team environment,” he told the club website.
“Speaking to Northampton’s coaching group also made me really excited to join Saints.
“Phil Dowson and James Craig have been fantastic to talk to, and I didn’t feel like there had been the same passionate interest from any other team to see me improve as a player as there was from them.”
