{"id":761363,"date":"2026-06-26T10:43:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T10:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/761363\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T10:43:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T10:43:12","slug":"all-blacks-forward-entering-prime-years-to-leave-new-zealand-for-urc-side-scarlets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/761363\/","title":{"rendered":"All Blacks forward entering ‘prime years’ to leave New Zealand for URC side Scarlets"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

All Blacks number eight Cullen Grace is set to leave New Zealand after signing a deal with United Rugby Championship side the Scarlets ahead of the 2026\/27 campaign.<\/p>\n

Grace will arrive in West Wales with a reputation built on professionalism, consistency and a relentless competitive edge developed within the Crusaders environment.<\/p>\n

Capable of playing across the back-row and in the locks, the 26-year-old has established himself as a crucial figure for both the Crusaders and Canterbury, combining physicality, athleticism and rugby intelligence with the leadership qualities that have seen him captain one of New Zealand<\/a> rugby\u2019s most successful provincial teams.<\/p>\n

A former New Zealand U20 international, Grace progressed through the Crusaders<\/a> Academy before making an immediate impact at Super Rugby level. His solid performances led to international recognition, earning his first All Blacks cap against Australia in 2020, while he has also represented the M\u0101ori All Blacks on three occasions.<\/p>\n

68 games for Crusaders<\/p>\n

Since making his debut for the Crusaders, Grace has amassed 68 appearances for the Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> giants.<\/p>\n

His arrival represents another significant addition to the Scarlets<\/a> squad as the club continues to strengthen its playing group and performance environment ahead of the new season.<\/p>\n

Scarlets interim director of rugby Nigel Davies said: \u201cWhen we looked at the profile of player we wanted to bring into the club, Cullen stood out immediately. He is a proven performer, but what really impressed us was the person behind the player.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you speak to people who have worked with him, the same themes keep coming up \u2013 professionalism, competitiveness, leadership and a genuine desire to improve every day. Those qualities are hugely important to us as we continue to build our environment and drive standards across the programme.<\/p>\n

Newcastle Red Bulls sign South African cult hero amid Fehi Fineanganofo speculation<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u201cHe comes from a culture where winning, accountability and continuous improvement are simply expected. That experience is incredibly valuable and something that will benefit not only our team on the field but also the players around him.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt 26, Cullen is entering the prime years of his career. He has already achieved a huge amount in the game, but we believe there is still plenty more to come. We are delighted he has chosen to join Scarlets and I know our supporters will be excited by what he can bring to our jersey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grace is equally excited about the challenge that awaits him in Llanelli.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cScarlets is a very proud rugby club with a great history and tradition and that was something that really appealed to me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am looking forward to coming over, learning, growing my game and doing everything I can to contribute to the club, its rugby group, the supporters and its legacy. From afar, you can see the passion that exists around the Scarlets and Welsh rugby and I\u2019m excited to experience that first-hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe style of rugby played in the URC<\/a> and EPCR competitions and the quality of the competition was another big attraction for me. It is a challenge I am really looking forward to and I can\u2019t wait to get started.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seventh Scarlets signing<\/p>\n

Grace will join up with the Scarlets following the completion of Canterbury\u2019s National Provincial Championship campaign later this year. Having captained Canterbury during last season\u2019s competition, he remains committed to helping his province through the 2026 NPC season before making the move to West Wales.<\/p>\n

Similar to Fletcher Anderson\u2019s arrival last season, the arrangement allows Grace to complete his commitments in New Zealand before joining the Scarlets environment, where he is expected to arrive following the conclusion of the NPC campaign in October.<\/p>\n

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

Grace becomes the latest addition to a Scarlets squad ahead of next season. The squad prepares to return to pre-season training next week \u2013 prop Corey Domachowski, second-rows Harvey Cuckson and Alex Groves, hookers John McKee and George Roberts and exciting young back-three player Isaac Murray-Macgregor are the others to have signed up.<\/p>\n

Skipper Josh Macleod, Fletcher Anderson, Gareth Davies, Jac Davies, Dan Davis, Sam Lousi, Will Evans and Harri O\u2019Connor have also penned new deals.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Wales\u2019 July Tests: Squad, fixtures, global kick-off times, referees and where to watch the Nations Championship<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All Blacks number eight Cullen Grace is set to leave New Zealand after signing a deal with United…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":761364,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,29897,818,1736,44,760,59697,85,2356,134441],"class_list":["post-761363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-crusaders","tag-home-page","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-scarlets","tag-sports","tag-transfers","tag-united-rugby-championship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=761363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/761364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=761363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=761363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=761363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}