Newcastle Red Bulls set to sign 147kg Test monster to PREM roster

Newcastle Red Bulls are continuing their mammoth recruitment drive ahead of the new season, with Argentinian tighthead Francisco Moreno set to become their 23rd new signing of the summer.

Moreno, 24, plays for Tarucas, founded in 2024 in Tucumán Province, where they became the third Argentinian team to play in Super Rugby Americas.

Tarucas are the club that former Bristol Bears and Pumas full-back Benjamin Elizalde joined on a short-term deal in May to gain game time ahead of his move to Newcastle.

The 6-foot-1-inch, 23-stone Moreno made his Argentina debut in the 17-10 defeat to the Springboks at the Estadio Jose Amalfitani in Buenos Aires, and it is understood he has signed for at least the next couple of seasons.

He will link up with Dan McFarland after Los Pumas play two Tests against Australia in San Salvador de Jujuy at the end of the month, and then, a week later, in Mendoza.

Moreno is expected in the North East before they kick off their Gallagher PREM campaign against champions Northampton Saints on September 25.

This will help strengthen the link between the Red Bulls, who already have countryman scrum-half Simón Benítez Cruz, while lock Franco Molina was recruited from Western Force at the end of last season.

He will face competition from fellow new boys Scotland international Elliot Millar-Mills, who has moved from opening-day opponents the Saints, and James Harper, who has moved to the North East from Sale Sharks in the North West.

Maori All Blacks loosehead Pouri Rakete-Stones, who has been signed from the Hurricanes, can also play tighthead, while Murray McCallum and Richard Palframan were already at the Tyneside club.

In addition to the 23 senior players that have been signed, the Red Bulls, who released 27 players at the end of last season, are bringing in nine players on academy contracts to the senior squad.