Buckley signs for Sale Sharks

Weighing in at 21 stone 5lbs, the 30-year-old Munster prop is one of the heaviest men currently playing professional rugby.

The Irish tighthead player, nicknamed Mushy, who has 21 international caps and has just been called into the Ireland squad for the Six Nations campaign, has penned a three year deal with Sale and will join the club in the summer.

Buckley's capture is set to be the first of many by executive director of sport Diamond, with the club set to announce a number of other signings over the next few weeks.

And it also carries uncanny echoes of Diamond's first signing when he was joint Sale coach back in 2001.

Diamond said: "This is a statement of intent of what Sale Sharks want to achieve. We want to build a team around a dominant pack of forwards."