Harlequins have found Kyle Sinckler's replacement - reports

Harlequins coach Paul Gustard seems to have found Kyle Sinckler's replacement according to reports in South Africa.

The Quins were dealt a heavy blow ahead of next season with British and Irish Lions prop Kyle Sinckler signing for Bristol Bears for next season.

However, Gustard has moved swiftly to find a replacement with South African newspaper, The Rapport, reporting that Wilco Louw has signed with the London based club ahead of next season.

Louw is currently playing for the Stormers in Super Rugby with former Harlequin Jamie Roberts and is second in the picking order behind Frans Malherbe.

Highly rated in South African circles, Wilco Louw showed early promise and was selected in the South African u20 in 2014 which included the du Preez brothers, Thomas du Toit, Warrick Gelant, Malcolm Marx, Pierre Schoeman and future clubmate and recent Harlequins signing André Esterhuizen.

Louw played u21 rugby for the Blue Bulls before signing for the Stormers and was named in their Super Rugby squad for the 2015 Super Rugby season.

Learning from future World Cup-winning duo Vincent Koch and Frans Malherbe, Louw fine-tuned his game and become renowned for his scrummaging in the Republic.

By 2017, Louw was one of the premier tightheads in the country and filled in for an injured Frans Malherbe in the starting line up for the Stormers.

His performances impressed the Springbok coaching staff who gave him first taste of test rugby when he was named in the South African A squad to face the French Barbarians. Louw started the first game against the tourists and came off the bench in the second as the SA A claimed victories in both games.

A test call up wasn't too far away as he earned a place in the Rugby Championship squad and made his test debut at Newlands as he came off the bench in the nail bitting 24-25 loss to the All Blacks.

Since his debut Louw has added a further 12 caps to his tally starting 5 times for his country. The latest cap came in the World Cup warm up match against Argentina as he narrowly missed out on a place in the victorious World World Cup squad.