Daniel Braid won six caps for the All Blacks © PA Photos

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Teams: Blues | England | New Zealand | Sale Sharks

Sale Sharks have announced the signing of former All Black flanker Daniel Braid on a deal until the end of the season, as reported in the ESPNscrum Rumour Mill back in December.

Sale are currently marooned at the foot of the Aviva Premiership table and Braid will provide cover in their back-row following the news that ex-England openside Hendrie Fourie has been forced to retire. Braid will now bolster Sale's attempts to beat the drop as they look to secure their top-flight status in the second half of the season.

Braid won six caps for the All Blacks between 2002 and 2010 and Sale boss Steve Diamond was delighted with his new recruit. "Dan joins us at a critical stage of our season," Diamond said. "He is a hard working flanker who tackles well and reads the game well too. He arrived in the UK on New Years Day and came to Carrington this morning to meet his new team mates. He is an important signing for us and I am sure he will fit in perfectly."

Sale face Saracens on Sunday and Braid could be thrown straight into action. "It's great to get the opportunity to come to Europe and play a different style of rugby and live a different lifestyle," Braid said. "I know Sam Tuitupou quite well. We played school age rugby together back in New Zealand and with Auckland and the Blues, so he's given me a few tips.

"And I also spoke to Luke McAlister who used to play for Sale Sharks and he was really complimentary about the club. When I knew I was coming here I went on-line and had a look at the squad and some of the names here such as Sam and Danny Cipriani - and to see where Sale are in the table was a bit of a shock. But there are still quite a few games to go and with the win against Worcester, hopefully it's a case of onwards and upwards."