Scottish recruitment

Not the national side, but rather the Exiles, who on the back of securing promotion to the Championship have been busy recruiting like crazy. On the coaching side, perhaps the biggest development is the signing of Barking's head coach, Alex Codling, as forwards coach - Codling had crafted probably the strongest forwards pack in ND1 last season, so hopefully he'll be performing similar feats at London Scottish.

On the playing front, Barking has also been a plentiful source of new personnel: Props Aaron Liffchak and Alex McKenzie, second-row Ben Thomas and back-row forwards James Kellard and Anthony Andrews, plus scrum-half (and former Exiles player) Matt Heeks. Other new recruits include winger Ollie Grove (brother of internationalist Alex) from Birmingham and Solihull, teenage fly-half Dan Mugford from Cambridge, and Kiwi no.8 Mark Bright from Redruth (currently playing for the Tamsin Makos in the ITM Cup). Interesting to not that all of the signings are from NL1 sides rather than Championship teams - hopefully they'll all be able to make the step-up that is required.

On top of that, Scottish have managed to secure additional sponsorship from Aberdeen Asset Management - Chief Executive, Martin Gilbert, has long been a supporter of Scottish rugby

HOOWWWEEEELLLLLLSSSSSYYYYYYYYY!

Brighty's a good bloke As, he will fit in well. He grew up not too far from where I did. Though he's getting on a bit these days he was a good player with Marlborough and Tasman, and still sounds really keen

HOOWWWEEEELLLLLLSSSSSYYYYYYYYY!

Wow - they have been busy. Puts Glasgow and particularly Edinburgh to some shame.

Recruiting from ND1 makes some sense. They'll know first hand the good players in the division and obviously Codling will know which Barking forwards were worth poaching.

Steve Pape has joined from Rosslyn Park to bolster the second row, but still no news about signing any of the players released by Glasgow or Edinburgh

HOOWWWEEEELLLLLLSSSSSYYYYYYYYY!

They could do with a a couple of big names nearing the end of their career (maybe 1 season left) that could bring some valuable experience and playing methods to the younger guys.

If AAM are fronting up some cash, then the funds will be there. Plus some household names will bring the crowds in through the gates.

Question:

What is HOOWWWEEELLLLLLSSSSSYYYYYYYYYY?

Tattie Scones RRN wrote:
Question:

What is HOOWWWEEELLLLLLSSSSSYYYYYYYYYY?

Glad someone else has asked! I dinnae have a clue!

It's a reference to this year's London Scottish end of season dinner. Exiles winger David Howells topped the try scoring list, and won promotion for the club with an intercept 70-odd metre try. His team mates yelled "HOOWWWEEELLLLLLSSSSSYYYYYYYYYY" quite a few times during the dinner. Howells was at the same tabel as Asbo, FES, myself and a few other V2'ers