Eight Facts About Gloucester's new signing from Russia

Gloucester have announced the signing of Russian international Kirill Gotovtsev.

The tighthead prop will join the Cherry and Whites for the 2021-22 season from Russian club Krasny Yar Krasnoyarsk. He will bring international experience with him after representing his country at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan and again in the recent Rugby Europe Championship.

Before taking up rugby, the 33-year-old was a talented freestyle wrestler, winning a bronze medal at the 2010 Russian Championships.

Chief Operating Officer, Alex Brown, is looking forward to seeing the Russian settle into Premiership life.

“Kirill has been a consistent performer for Russia over the last few years, he’s an extremely powerful scrummager, and dominant ball carrier, and he will add to our resources in the front row.

“We’re really excited to see Kirill in Cherry & White next season, and we’re confident that he will be a great fit at Kingsholm.”

Eight Facts about Gloucester's new signing:

• The first sport he did professionally was freestyle wrestling.
• In 2010 he became bronze medallist in super heavy (120kg) weight category at the Russian Championships losing in the semi-final to Bakhtiyar Akhmedov, Olympic gold medallist in the same category in Beijing 2008.
• In 2012 he switched to bobsleigh becoming a push athlete for rather well-known Russian bobsledder Dmitry Abramovich
• Gotovtsev’s ambition was to compete at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi but they were not selected to the national team
• In 2014 he switched to playing rugby and after spending a season with Krasny Yar reserves team, 
• He became member of the main Krasny Yar squad that won both the national title and the Russian Cup in 2015
• He made his test debut in November 2015, in a 23-12 defeat against Portugal.
• He played in all four of Russia's Rugby World Cup matches in 2019