Cheers! Ale looks good for Hammond

HOLD my beer, Nottingham have signed a Swedish prop called Ale.

- JON NEWCOMBE

Ale Loman, 24, is believed to be the first player from the Scandinavian country to join a Championship club.

Nottingham picked him up right on their doorstep, thanks to their strong ties with the local student rugby scene.

The tighthead, who can also play loosehead, came over to the UK to do an MSc in machine learning and computer science at the University of Nottingham but furthering his rugby career was a factor behind the move, too.

"The last few years I feel I have reached the end of how far my potential could take me because rugby in Sweden is not the biggest sport. I tried to think of a way to play at a higher level so I decided to go on a semester of exchange at the University of Nottingham," he explained.

"I went there to study but with a clear goal of playing rugby as well, and as soon as I got there I got in touch with the BUCS side and I started playing with them.

As I came towards the end of that, I started to get in contact with Nottingham Rugby as well, and we took it from there.