Connacht sign Jarrad Butler

Connacht Rugby and the IRFU are delighted to announce the signing of 25-year-old back-row forward Jarrad Butler on a three-year deal.

With 70 Super Rugby appearances to his name, New Zealand-born Butler is currently in his fourth season with the Brumbies in Australia and can play in all three positions across the back row.

Butler has been one of the Brumbies’ most consistent performers since a breakout 2014 Super Rugby season which saw him receive the club’s highest on-field honour, the Brett Robinson Players’ Player of the Year award.

Having moved to Australia from his native Wellington at the age of 13, Butler was identified as a potential professional while on a scholarship at renowned rugby nursery The Southport School in Queensland. He went on to represent Australia at every age-grade level including Schoolboys, U19s and U20s.

He made his Super Rugby debut for the Queensland Reds as a 20-year-old against the Highlanders in 2012 and moved to the Brumbies in 2014, where his first season thrust him into the spotlight as one of the leading back-row forwards in Australian rugby.

Butler is the seventh new addition to the Connacht senior squad this summer following the arrivals of scrum-half James Mitchell, prop Peter McCabe and second row Gavin Thornbury along with Academy graduates Conor McKeon (scrum-half), Cormac Brennan (utility back) and Pat O'Toole (hooker).