GRAHAM DAWE says he ‘is about there’ with the rebuilding of Plymouth Albion’s squad.
Albion’s director of rugby boosted his forward options this week with the arrival of South African lock David Fisher.
The 22-year-old became the 23rd player to pen a contract at Brickfields for the 2015/16 season.
But Dawe has nearly as many players training with the club and he says personnel from that group will fill nearly all of the remaining places in his squad.
However, there could still be one or two players come in from outside. One of whom seems certain to be French forward Gregory Sebastien, who had a trial at the club at the end of June. Sebastien, though, is not be available to move to England until after the season has started.
“We are about there,” said Dawe, who introduced his squad to the club’s fans on Thursday night at the ‘Meet the Players Evening’.
“We just have to tie down some of the guys that have been training with us over the last few weeks. We want them to be committed Albion players for the season.”
Albion, who played Jersey last Saturday, don’t have a game this weekend, but they will be back in action on August 22 when they entertain Weston-super-Mare and Championship side Bedford Blues at Brickfields.
Having two matches in one day will give Dawe a chance to have a look at all the players who have been on trial.
The Albion boss was generally pleased with his new-look team’s performance against Jersey, despite losing 43-15, but he is hoping they can be even better for their match against fellow Championship side Bedford.
“Technically we can brush up on a few things,” he said.
“We need to do some more work on our scrum and be more offensive, although I was quite pleased with the scrum against Jersey.
“We have developed our phase plays and our line-outs, but we just need to work on the scrum and continue working on our defence and contact skills.”
Albion’s development match with Weston-super-Mare will kick-off 1.15pm, with the game against Bedford starting at 5pm. In between, Plymouth Combination sides Old Techs and Tamar Saracens will lock horns as part of a ‘Festival of Rugby’. It is now looking increasingly likely that there will also be a fourth match on the day, kicking off at 7pm and featuring another Combination team.
* Former Albion back Elliot Clements-Hill who is on trial at Bedford will start on the wing for the Blues against James Shanahan’s Old Albanian side this weekened.