Leinster face scrum-half conundrum after McGrath move is sealed

United Rugby Championship big guns Leinster could face a scrum-half crisis next season after former Ireland international Luke McGrath completed a move to Top 14 strugglers Perpignan, while doubts persist over the future of Jamison Gibson-Park.

McGrath, 33, who was born in Canada, is fifth on Leinster’s all-time top try-scoring list with 56 tries in 248 appearances, and has made 14 appearances this season.

He won the last of his 20 Ireland caps with a seven-minute cameo in their 2019 World Cup quarter-final defeat against the All Blacks in Tokyo, and has signed a one-year deal with the option for a second year.

It ends a long search for a nine by the Blood and Golds, who targeted McGrath when they were priced out of a move for Springbok Faf de Klerk, who is leaving Yokohama Canon Eagles when his contract ends later this year.

McGrath will be competing with Tom Ecochard, 33, who has just signed a new one-year deal and South African James Hall, 30, who has put pen to paper on a two-year extension of his current contract to start at Stade Aimé Giral.

He will, however, face a wait to find out which competition they will be playing in next season. The Catalan club are 18 points behind 12th-place Bayonne and will almost certainly have to take part in a Top 14 relegation play-off game in June.

Leinster could also lose their first-choice scrum-half Gibson-Park, whose CV has been landing on the desks Top 14 recruitment chiefs for the last few months in an attempt to drum up some interest.

The 34-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season, and despite being a key player under Andy Farrell, hasn’t agreed a new deal to stay in Dublin beyond the end of the season.

It seems unlikely that Gibson-Park will be allowed to leave with the World Cup in Australia only 18 months away, and traditionally, Irish stars have used French clubs to get a deal with the IRFU, but Leinster will be sweating after McGrath’s move.