Sale Sharks have agreed a cut-price deal to sign controversial Irish fly-half Paddy Jackson, Telegraph Sport can reveal. The Aviva Premiership club are also close to agreeing terms with centre Stuart Olding.

Jackson, 26, and Olding, 25, had their contracts terminated by Ulster last month, despite being acquitted of rape after a nine-week trial. The pair had been accused of raping the same woman at a party at Jackson’s home in June 2016.

Jackson, who won 25 caps for Ireland, later apologised for what he ­described as “degrading and ­offensive” WhatsApp messages ­regarding the woman in the case.

The verdict attracted massive protests in Ireland, while Ulster’s leading sponsor, the Bank of Ireland, declared itself “highly concerned” by their conduct before the province cut ties with the pair.

Sale would not publicly comment last night and will delay the announcement until after the end of the rugby season. Jackson was on a contract worth around £250,000 with the Irish Rugby Union, but is believed to have accepted terms on less than £200,000 with Sale. ­Olding is likely to sign a similar cut-price deal.

Their signings, however, are likely to reignite protests by women’s rights groups. Yet if any director of rugby is prepared to deal with the firestorm that signing Jackson and Olding will create, then it is Steve Diamond. Sale’s director of rugby believes that their innocence in the court of law, rather than ­public opinion, is all that matters.