The Ospreys have brought in reinforcements ahead of the resumption of the European Challenge Cup, signing back-row cover from the Crusaders.
Loose forward Ethan Roots, 23, links up with the Welsh region from the New Zealand giants as back-row cover amid Dan Lydiate's lengthy lay-off due to an ACL injury.
Roots earned selection in the Crusaders' 2020 squad after an impressive debut season with North Harbour in the Mitre 10 Cup - the second highest level of professional rugby union in New Zealand. He made his Super Rugby debut last year before playing his first game for the Māori All Blacks.
He is joined as an Ospreys reinforcement by prop Jordan Lay, a Samoa international who previously enjoyed an injury-enforced loan with the Liberty Stadium outfit in 2019.
He comes in amid injuries to Rhodri Jones and Gareth Thomas.
Toby Booth's Ospreys have been deploying youngsters Rhys Henry and Garin Phillips at loosehead prop of late, but heading into Europe with no more cover in the ranks would be a challenge.
The two new signings were confirmed on European Professional Club Rugby's website on Thursday, where the updated squads for each club which has qualified for the knockout stages were revealed.
EPCR said: "To ensure that clubs will be able to select the strongest possible match day squads in the current circumstances, there was no limit to the number of players each club was permitted to register."
