Northampton have signed French prop Renaud Peillard as World Cup cover for Scotland international Tom Smith. The 30-year-old former France A loosehead prop has signed a two-year deal with the Saints after playing all his senior rugby with Perpignan.
Northampton operations director John Steele said: "All clubs will have to make an educated guess on who they will lose during the World Cup, and we can be fairly certain that Tom will be called away with Scotland."
"Peillard will form part of a group, along with some of our young props, that will be utilised during the World Cup period," he added.
