Nuns start to cast net for summer signings

NUNEATON director of rugby Huw Thomas has had more than one eye on next season as he scours the region for new recruits to bolster his squad.

The long-serving Welshman was away on a scouting mission while his side secured a thrilling 25-24 victory at Bournville on Saturday to back up beating Sheffield at Liberty Way the previous weekend.

“We need players for next season, it’s as simple as that,” said Thomas. “We’ve got a list of players that are moving on and positions we need to strengthen. So I’ve been looking at players at other clubs while I can this season and I will be in talks with quite a few players about joining us for next season.”

In his absence, Nuneaton endured an attritional afternoon on the synthetic surface at Avery Field in round 22 of the Midland Premier season.

The travelling Nuns trailed 17-8 at half-time but a second try from hooker Dale Bowyer and a Jackson Hughes effort set up a grandstand finish as Nuns kicked to the corner and made it pay as Sion Cowdy was driven over for the matchwinning points.

“It was a bruising encounter for the boys,” said Thomas. “We lost two backs to injuries in the first half and in the second half, four or five of the boys picked up injuries.

“Some came off, others came back on, we ended up with front rows on the back row and back rows in the backs, somehow we managed to keep 15 players out there on the pitch. It took a lot of guts and pride in the shirts to do that.

“We gave away a couple of sloppy tries but overall I was extremely happy with the way the boys applied themselves and backed up that win against Sheffield.

“They were really up against it and a lot of the lads had to battle on through but they did that and got the job done.”

With four rounds of fixtures left, Nuns are now within four points of sixth-placed Sheffield.

“Backing up the Sheffield win has been big for us,” said Thomas. “We’ve got Bridgnorth, Broadstreet and Burton at home before finishing at Derby so we’re attacking the final block of the games with the aim of finishing in the top six.”