Ulster's Will Addison confirms Sale Sharks return

Sale Sharks have confirmed the signing of Ulster and Ireland centre Will Addison on a one-year deal.

The 31-year-old rejoins the Premiership side, whom he played more than 100 times for prior to joining Ulster in 2018.

Addison's return to Sale had been expected for some time, following reports earlier this year that the centre/full-back was being release by the province. Ulster confirmed he would be leaving at the end of the season earlier this month.

His time at Ulster was mired by injuries, limiting him to just 42 appearances in six seasons.

Having made an instant impact at Kingspan Stadium in 2018, Addison was called into the Ireland squad by head coach Joe Schmidt, winning the first two of his four Ireland caps in November 2018, and would likely have featured for Ireland at the 2019 World Cup had it not been for injury.

His worst injury came in October 2021 when he suffered a broken leg against the Lions at Kingspan Stadium, which saw him sidelined until pre-season of the 2023/24 season.

The Cumbria native has featured 16 times for Ulster this season under Dan McFarland and most-recently Richie Murphy, his highest total in his six seasons at the province.

Meanwhile, Ulster have confirmed the appointment of Jimmy Duffy (above) to their coaching ticket for next season.

Duffy, who spent six seasons as forwards coach at Connacht between 2015 and 2021, served as an assistant to Pat Lam in their Pro12 winning season in 2016.

His appointment reunites him with Ulster's new head coach Richie Murphy, whom Duffy worked under with the Ireland U20s in the 2022 Six Nations Grand Slam campaign.

More recently, Duffy has spent the last two seasons as forwards coach of Western Force in Super Rugby.

"I'm looking forward to working alongside