Men sign international duo

HOCKEY

Canterbury Hockey Club’s men will use this weekend’s pre-season tournament in Rotterdam to “bed in” their two latest signings. The Polo Farm club have signed AMN Hillhead midfielder Wei Adams, who last month won his 50th cap for Scotland and Swiss Under21 international Benjamin Messerli. Canterbury captain Michael Farrer said: “I haven’t met Wei or Benjamin yet, so this weekend’s tournament will be a good chance to get to know them and help intergrate them into the squad.” Canterbury are playing five games in four days, starting with a match against Russian side Ekaterinburg tonight (Thursday). On Friday they play Mannheim from Germany before two matches on Saturday, against Blau-weiss Berlin and another German side, Durkheim. They then complete their programme against the host club on Sunday, with Farrer adding: “It’s a busy programme but we did the same thing last season and found it beneficial in terms of fitness and working on tactics. “We are also taking four youngsters with us, Billy Townsend, James Oates, Louis Duprez and Toby Vaughan, and playing in an international tournament will be good experience for them.” Canterbury opened their preseason campaign with an 8-0 home victory over Chelmsford at the weekend. Farrer said: “We didn’t have the full squad and it was an opportunity to let some of the youngsters who have been training with us in the summer have a first team run-out. “Chelmsford are a couple of divisions below us so we would have been expected to beat them but it was still a good workout.”

GOING DUTCH: Michael Farrer