England prop Kieran Brookes heading to Northampton

As revealed by Neil Fissler in The Rugby Paper on December 21, England tighthead Kieran Brookes will join Northampton next season.
The 24-year-old prop moves to Franklin’s Gardens from Newcastle Falcons, where he has played all his senior rugby, bar two seasons spent at Leicester.
Brookes, who represented Ireland at U18s and U19s levels, has six Test caps for England.
“I’m looking forward to joining Northampton Saints next season,” he commented. “Their record over the last few seasons speaks for itself and I’m under no illusions of the quality of squad I’m going in to and the challenge that presents.
“I’ve really enjoyed my time at the Falcons and in particular working with John Wells and Micky Ward, both of whom have helped me massively, and in the meantime all my efforts will be concentrated on helping us finish as high up the league as we can.”
Director of rugby Jim Mallinder added: “Kieran has steadily risen through the various England representative teams and has shown his quality at each level, building up experience along the way.
“However while we believe that he can contribute a great deal to our squad we also think that Kieran has a lot more to come, and we are looking forward to seeing him develop as a player at Franklin’s Gardens.”
Falcons Director of Rugby, Dean Richards said: “We’re obviously disappointed to see Kieran head to Northampton, as we would have liked him to stay here, at the club that has helped him to develop into the full England international that he is today. Attempts were made to retain Kieran over a 10 month period but during the course of the negotiations it became clear that he and his agent were looking to move.”