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The Utah Warriors have signed Australian forward Richard Stanford for the 2020 Major League Rugby season. A former Super Rugby player with the Brumbies, Force, and Waratahs, confirmation of the 33-year-old addition comes just a day after that of South African newcomer Jurie van Vuuren.
Stanford is an unusual signing given he has not played professional rugby since 2014. His last Super Rugby game was in 2012, after which he returned to the Shute Shield with Eastern Suburbs and played four games for the NSW Country Eagles in the 2014 National Rugby Championship. In the time following he has been a player-coach with Randwick while working a full-time day job.
Like van Vuuren, Stanford can play both lock or loose forward but likely projects as a lock for Utah. The Warriors are looking to rebuild after a disappointing 2019 season that saw them winning just two games in 2019 after making the Semi Finals in their inaugural 2018 campaign.
