Triallists set to figure for Raiders

Raiders have Kerry O’Sullivan, a prop who has played for Coventry, and No 10 Adam Canning, who has previously played for Leamington and has more recently been playing in Spain, on trial, along with a number of other players.

Dawson expects the duo to figure in one of his side’s two pre-season games and said: “It makes sense for everyone to have a look at them in one of the matches at the end of pre-season and they both seem keen. We need some support for Ben Dudley as he’s the only 10 we have in the squad at the moment. It’s going to be a long, old season, so we’re still actively pursuing and, fingers crossed, we can get some new players in.”

Dawson was at a coaching conference in Newbury on Sunday, for National 1 and 2 coaches and had positive feedback from a number of the coaches there.

He said: “A lot of people wished us good luck and were very complimentary, and the National 1 coaches said they were looking forward to coming down here. They also said they’d heard great things about us, which was nice to hear coming from your peers.”

Matt Miles will again captain Raiders this season, see this week’s paper for a full interview.