Cautious county clubs are still signing new players on

FOR some of Yorkshire’s rugby union clubs, it’s almost been a case of business as usual as far as their planning for next season is concerned.

For others, the financial implications of the coronavirus crisis have hit far harder.

With so much uncertainty surrounding the issue of when it will be safe for the sport to return, many teams find themselves in a state of limbo at a time when they would normally be at the advanced stages of their close-season recruitment drives.

Down in South Yorkshire, National Two outfit Sheffield Tigers have managed to add 10 new faces to their first-team squad by virtue of “getting their business done early”. To the north, newlypromoted Harrogate have agreed deals for 2020/21 with a similar number of players.

Meanwhile, in the west of the county, another of the Broad Acres’ fourth-tier teams has been forced into taking more drastic steps to safeguard its long-term future.

Cost-cutting measures mean that Huddersfield RUFC will not be paying any of their players next term, such has been the impact of the loss of revenue generated by hosting matches and private events at their ground.

“It’s obviously been a really tough time for everyone in the game and at our club, so we’ve taken this approach to try and protect us long-term,” Huddersfield head coach Gareth Lewis explained.

“The decision not to pay players is not one that we have taken lightly because we’ve been building things on a professional level for a number of years.

“It’s definitely going to be challenging competing in this league, but we’ve managed to retain the vast majority of our squad and the spine of the team is still strong, so I think we can do okay next season.

“It will be a challenge, but I like a challenge.”

While Huddersfield might be facing a more difficult time of it on the field in 2020/21, Sheffield Tigers have added strength-indepth, with ex-Doncaster Knights and Rotherham Titans back-row forward Tom Calladine their marquee signing.

“The situation with coronavirus has made everything much harder, but we’ve been quite lucky because we got our business done early,” revealed playercoach Jamie Broadley.

“Moving quickly in the summer is something that we have to do be because we’re not a big fish and don’t have loads of cash to throw about like some clubs.

“I’m happy with our recruitment and even more pleased that almost all of our existing players have re-signed.”