Delaney steered Nottingham to fourth in National One last season

Nottingham director of rugby Glenn Delaney believes his new number eight Ben Pienaar is the ideal replacement for Dan Montagu.

Montagu joined Bristol this summer and so 22-year-old Pienaar has been drafted in from Leicester Tigers.

Delaney told BBC Radio Nottingham: "Ben is a very physical ball carrier and a hard hitting number eight."

Delaney has also completed deals to keep hooker Tom Youngs and 19-year-old centre Greig Tonks.

"Tom's a bit of a Joe Duffey clone," said Delaney. "He's a very tough and abrasive character and a hard man to have in that front row.

"When you're going into battles he's the kind of guy you want next to you."

Delaney has been equally impressed with Tonks who, despite missing large parts of last season because of injury, has recently been selected for the England under-20s.

"He is very very talented and certainly someone that, when he plays for us, we see that creativity," he said.

"Greig has been a feature of what we've been doing and I'm very pleased to have him back on board for next season."

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