Stormers and Springbok Gio Aplon has signed for two seasons with Top 14 side Grenoble, the French club confirmed on Monday.
Aplon has 17 caps for the Springboks, scoring five tries, and was in 2010 elected South African player of the year.
The 31-year-old, who can also play at fullback, arrives from the Super Rugby side Stormers, with the versatile player having a style that suits Grenoble's sporting director Fabrice Landreau.
He has played 80 Super 15 matches scoring 17 tries in total, and was part of the winning Western Province Currie Cup side in 2012.
Aplon becomes Grenoble's sixth recruit for next season after South African scrum-half Charl McLeod (Sharks), French fly-half Jonathan Wisniewski (Racing-Metro), prop Remy Hugues (Dax), New Zealand back Jackson Willison (Auckland Blues) and prop Julien Brugnaut (Racing-Metro).
The team are currently 10th in Top 14 but within seven points of sixth-placed Toulouse and a place in the French Championship playoffs. – AFP