Apart from that pre-season is going well. Mark Thompson made a welcome return to the fold last night when he joined a hardy bunch at a rain soaked Brinkburn. That included Allan Milne, who had driven up the A1 through torrential rain for the session, and Stu Bennett who had driven down from work in Scotland before returning early this morning.
With a fast maturing development squad putting pressure on for first team places training is reaching a new intensity. New signings Paul Williamson, James Masshedar, Dave Garside junior and Richard Weegram all fitting in very well.
A few regulars are currently out of action. Darren Thomas still has knee ligament problems from a knock he took in the Beach 7s in Spain, while Brett Cullinane has just spent two days in hospital getting a problem tooth cut out. Henry Tones, Paul Rudd, Carl Miller and Anth Carr all sat out last night's session with various injuries and colds but should be fit for the first serious warm up game against Blaydon at Brinkburn a week on Wednesday.