Exeter have signed forward Andre Goedhals from South African side Pumas.

The 22-year-old, who is English-qualified having been born in Devon, moves to Sandy Park having helped Pumas reach this year’s Currie Cup final and has also spent time with Stormers.

Goedhals can play at lock or in the back-row and has agreed a deal that runs until the summer of 2030.

“We’ve been looking at back five options for a little while now, just because I think it’s an area we can still keep developing and improving,” Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter told BBC Sport.

“We’ve got some great front-liners there when you look at a pack there that’s Dafydd Jenkins, Zambo [Andrea Zambonin], and then your back row, if everyone’s here, Tom Hooper, Ethan Roots, Ross Vincent, Kane James, you start putting a really good, strong group together.

“But the problem is also the fact that is they’re internationals and they get taken away for chunks of time.

“When you pick up a couple of injury issues, as we have done, all of a sudden you do feel a bit thinner than you actually think you are.

“I looked at Andre for a long time in good detail, and at 21, having played a couple of years already in the Currie Cup for both the Stormers and now for the Pumas, he just has something I think could develop into something special.

“I just think he’ll develop into a very, very good player and he’s EQP, which is what we really want because we are a little tight on EQP numbers and so I think my focus on recruitment has been around EQP players.”