PLYMOUTH Albion have confirmed that 11 players will definitely be leaving them following their relegation from the Championship.
Nottingham revealed on Monday morning that Rob Langley, Ben Woods, Lawrence Rayner and Tom Heard would be joining them, while long-serving scrum-half Ruairi Cushion announced in January he would be leaving at the end of the season. But following those five out of the Brickfields door are Iain Grieve, Tom Fidler, Toby Howley-Berridge, Lewis Warner, Mark Kohler and Josh Davies.
Scrum-half Davies, who moved to Albion last summer from Neath, is joining London Welsh, where he will replace former Plymouth number nine Paul Rowley.
Albion’s new director of rugby Graham Dawe had warned supporters that many of this year’s squad would be moving on after the club were relegated with just three league wins to their name.
There could yet be further departures, as some of the players from this year’s large full-time squad have not yet completed their discussions over new contracts with the club, who have lost out on £500,000 of central funding following their demotion to National One.
Dawe said: “At the end of every season you hope to keep some players for continuity reasons, but that’s not always possible because players want to play at the highest level possible.”
He added: “We certainly thank all the players that are leaving for their commitment and endeavour. Hopefully, they found being at Plymouth a positive experience and no doubt we’ll come across them in the future.”
The club hope to announce players that have agreed to re-sign soon, but Dawe did reiterate that not all the players not listed as leaving today will definitely be staying.
“Some players still need to clarify their positions and there’s also a few decisions for the club to make,” said Dawe, who faces a tough job putting together a new squad that can challenge for an instant return to the Championship.
Interestingly, key players like Declan Cusack, Eoghan Grace, Neale Patrick, Brett Beukeboom and Andrew Tiedemann were not on the list of first wave departures from Albion.
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