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Austin Elite have confirmed their first signing of the Major League Rugby off-season. Former France under-20 prop Simon Courcoul will join the team for the 2019 season. He finds French links in coach Alain Hyardet, second row Victor Comptat, and halfbacks Mickaël Romera and Timothée Guillimin.
Courcoul, 22, joins the team after spending the 2017-18 Fédérale 1 season with Grasse where he was a regular starter at loosehead prop. In the two seasons prior he was an academy player at Pro D2 clubs Narbonne and Bayonne.
Before joining Bayonne he was part of the ASM Clermont Auvergne program, where he earned selection to the French national junior side. Courcoul played one match in the 2014 u20 Six Nations and then was a replacement in five matches at the 2014 u20 World Rugby Championship.
At 260lbs (118kg) Courcoul adds ballast to an Austin scrum and should be a central figure in the No1 shirt. The Elite were forced to use hooker Chris Schade in the role during their inaugural campaign after losing Australian Tim Fitzgerald for the entire season to injury.
