BIRMINGHAM and Solihull Bees have made a raft of summer signings to strengthen the squad ahead of the 2017/18 Midlands Premier League campaign.
Highly experienced No 8 Umraan Dixon-Jadwat headlines the signings.
The former Nuneaton forward has played representative rugby in South Africa for both Western Province Amateur and Kwa-Zulu Natal U18s.
He will be joined in the forwards by fellow ex-Nuneaton player Harry Smith – a prop who has already represented England Colleges U19 and Warwickshire U20s.
Second/back row Keenan Cooper, formerly with Barker Butts and another Warwickshire U20 representative, also joins along with two promising back rowers from Coventry Rugby Academy in Matthew Collier and Sam Allen.
Bees’ head of rugby Pete Glackin has also been busy in securing a number of new signings for the back division.
Scrum half Jack Secher has played rugby in Australia for Curtin University and Avignon Le Pontet in France and will be joined by fellow scrum half Sean O’Sullivan who has been a member of both Wasps and Coventry Rugby Academies.
Ex-Kenilworth player Harry O’Brien can play at fly half, centre or full back and is another new squad member who has represented Warwickshire at U20 level.
Nathan Tilsley will be already familiar to Bees’ supporters, having played on loan last season.
The versatile centre/full back joins on a permanent deal from Stourbridge.
Sonny Young is another player who can slot in at either centre or full back and he is joined by fellow Coventry Rugby Academy graduate Matthew Dickens, who plays on the wing.
Glackin said: “We are delighted to have secured the services of all 11 players at this stage of our pre-season preparations.
“The new signings confirmed to date will bring a mix of youth and experience and individually will bring further energy and competition to the squad.”
In last week’s Solihull Observer, we reported ‘Jack Lolly’ was announced as the new skipper of Birmingham and Solihull Bees.
We would like to make clear the new skipper is Jack Jolly and apologise for any inconvenience this has caused.
