A professional rugby leagueΒ player from Lancashire has entered the Love Island villa one week into his club's new season.

It was revealed last night that Keanan Brand, 24, has travelled to South Africa to take part in the hit ITV2 show and he made his first appearance at the end of Thursday night’s episode.

Brand becomes the second professional rugby league player to feature in the show in the space of a year, with former Castleford Tigers hooker Jacques O’Neill entering the villa last summer.

Born in Ormskirk in the west of Lancashire, he started his professional rugby league career at Widnes Vikings in 2018, and after a breakout season in 2019Β Brand signed for Warrington Wolves.

However, Brand struggled for game time in a Wire shirt and made just three appearances for the club.

He then joined Leigh Leopards the following year on loan in 2021, when the club were relegated from Super League, before signing permanently in 2022 as the club secured promotion back to the top division.

He was also included in the Ireland squad for last autumn's Rugby League World Cup, but didn't feature for the Wolfhounds during the tournament.

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He didn't feature for Leigh in their opening game of the new season last week at Salford, and has now jetted to South Africa to appear on the reality TV dating show.

It is unclear where Brand's decision to go on Love Island leaves his employment status with the Leopards.

Lancashire Telegraph:

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