Bury St Edmunds Rugby Club start 2024/25 National League season with 23 players after five ported across from new partnersip with Doncaster Knights
Bury St Edmunds head into their National League 2 East season opener at Westcombe Park tomorrow (3pm) boosted by five further new signings who have arrived as a result of a newly-launched partnership with Doncaster Knights.
Despite being separated by 150 miles, the RFU Championship club have decided to formalise what a relationship which has sprung between them this summer, bourne out of a family connection.
Bury’s director of rugby Jacob Ford – who has stepped aside as head coach to let Ben Penfold step up for his player-coach duties – invited the Yorkshire outfit his younger brother Joe took over as head coach in February down for a training session.
It was followed by the Suffolk side travelling up to play a pre-season fixture at Castle Park, also last month, which ended in a 68-31 win for the hosts.
But it was also an opportunity for the two clubs to agree to help each other out going forward, which has result in five players effectively joining the Wolfpack on season-long loan deals, and also the chance for others to test themselves at a club who play two levels higher.
Ford added: “We're very open and honest with each other and there's so many benefits. I think the closeness of the relationship (with his brother) helps in terms of managing those players either way and what we want to get out of the relationship as well.”
Four of the five players will help drive Bury’s forward pack with the combination of loans and registered players seeing James Harrison (second row), Calvin Mitchell (prop), Archie Upton (hooker), Will Metcalf (scum-half) and centre Sai Tobeyaweni all set to spend the season down in Suffolk.
They add to the 18 permanent additions, following 10 departures, that have agreed deals to come in at the Greene King IPA Haberden for the 2024/25 campaign, taking the total to 23 new players.
It comes as Bury bid to improve on last season’s sixth-placed finish, and record a record high of a top four spot, which had looked on the cards last term until a late season collapse in form.
After their trip to south east London this weekend to take on a Westcombe Park outfit who finished ninth last term, Bury are also on the road next weekend, at Henley, ahead of their Haberden campaign finally getting started on September 21 against newly-promoted Oxford Harlequins (all 3pm).
Reflecting on their recruitment business, ahead of their second pre-season friendly on Saturday which saw the Wolfpack lose 50-22 at higher-league Rosslyn Park, Ford said: “We have 23 new players within the squad after losing some and keeping 10 or whatever it was from last year, so we’re in a healthy position.
“It's very new, but it's a lot more professional and we're in a good place. We just need to get playing.
“We're probably a little bit behind rugby-wise in pre-seasons compared to previous years. But we understood that was going to be the case and we're probably still going to be in that phase for another couple of months.
“But as long as we get the quality out there and we show a lot of effort and we get our preparation right, keeping things simple, we'll have a good chance to compete in this league.”