|
Dings Crusaders RFC are looking forward to the coming season in the newly named National League Two South with plenty of optimism despite having two senior players leave the club to join Forest of Dean out-fit Cinderford.
Lock Dave Bufton and number 8 Mike Panoho have decided to leave the club for contrasting reasons with Panoho being offered a Teaching role in near-by Chepstow and Bufton wanting to test himself at a higher level. Both players leave on good terms and with the clubs blessing.
While Dings officials admit that players of such a high quality will obviously be missed, they don’t believe that they will be affected too much by the duo’s departure as they have once again recruited well in the off season and have strengthened their already enviable squad.
Returning to the club is Flanker Stean Williams from Henley Hawks while Centre Luke Plummer is back from a stint playing for the Newport Gwent Dragons. Also coming in are Bristol Academy trio, Jack Gadd, George Watkins and Jack Tovey, London Welsh Academy flanker Rory Millar and UWIC Hooker Richard Thomas. Lock Luke Bellinger arrives from Westcombe Park and highly rated Centre Alistair Crombie has joined from Barnstable via Colston’s School.
Back-rower Matt Carter and Lock Darren Jefferies join from Somerset Premier side Chew Valley and Scrum half Connal Knott joins from Swindon. Three other signings come from the clubs traditional local rivals St Mary’s Old Boy’s in the shape of back five forward Gavin Curry, Lock Ollie Caunt and Scrum half Steve Plummer and, as you would expect, all of the new signings have first team aspirations.
But it’s not just the playing staff that has changed at the Lockleaze based club. Last season’s Head Coach Alan Martinovic` exited after taking a position at Hartpury College closely followed by Forwards Coach Johnny Gordon who, returned to his native New Zealand due to personal reasons. So the first thing Chairman Steve Lloyd had to do was to recruit a new Head Coach to fill the void.
James Farndon who, was originally targeted as a player by Lloyd, was drafted in to take up the Head Coaches position and told to go out and recruit his own back-room staff.
“There was no point in us telling James who he had to work with in terms of assistants as they may well of all of had conflicting views on coaching the team”, said Lloyd. “We were pleasantly surprised with the people James has brought in – there’s a lot of experience within the coaching set up now and the players are responding well in training” he said.
Farndon is employed by the RFU as Bristol’s Rugby Development Officer (RDO) and is the Head Coach at Bristol University. His Coombe Dingle post sees him work in conjunction with former Bristol flanker Joel Pearson and the vastly experienced Peter Johnson, both of which have joined the Dings coaching set-up, while former Bristol conditioning coach Dave Rowlands continues to look after the fitness of the squad. The final piece of the coaching jigsaw has been filled by former Bristol and Scotland Prop Dave Hilton who has returned to his boy-hood club.
“When I started playing, I was looking for a club to join and I was told to join Dings Crusaders as they had a good reputation for bring on young players. It’s good to come full circle and I’m looking forward to coaching at the club” said Hilton who as a player made 137 appearances for Bristol and was capped 42 times by Scotland.
The Lanseer Avenue club, who’s Latin Motto ‘Per Crucis Ad Corona’ translates into ‘Through the Cross to the Crown’, has also been given further good news in that it will be receiving the prestigious ‘Tom Mahoney Award’. The trophy is presented by the ‘Old Bristol Players Society’ and is given to the club that has made a significant contribution to Bristol Rugby.
Fielding four senior sides and a thriving junior section, Dings Crusaders is the focal point of the Lockleaze community. The club has also stepped in at the eleventh hour to come to the aid of the ’Bristol Ladies’ club who are no longer able to train at their previous home. Dings Crusaders kick off their league programme at home to Richmond on September 5th.
(Article courtesy of John White)
|
