Decorated former captain Harry Sharman is back with Spalding RFC as they prepare for their first competitive game of the new season at Kesteven on Saturday (3pm).
Sharman ended a 25-year stint with boyhood club Town in February when he left to join National League Three Midlands leaders South Leicester.
He left under something of a cloud, having been stripped of the captaincy midway through what was a pretty disastrous Midlands One East campaign for Town.
However, it seems both parties have put the debacle behind them, with Spalding desperately bidding to get that “feel-good factor” back following their relegation to Midlands Two East (North).
They lost 25 of their 26 league matches last term, only winning at Belgrave on the final day of the season.
That prompted head coach Ben Williams and his Town team to skip the summer break and concentrate on training – and he’s delighted with the results.
“We want straight into pre-season training,” admitted Williams. “Once a week, we just played touch rugby.
“That culminated in us sending two teams to the Loughborough national touch tournament – and one of them actually got to the plate final, which was great.
“Heroes Gym also sent a personal trainer down during July and he worked us really, really hard.
“The guys are all looking really fit and we are looking to regain the focus that was lost last year.
“We’re ready to get playing again and have retained a lot of last year’s players, while also welcoming Harry Sharman back to the club.
“We’ve got a number of exciting young players here too. We’ll have great competition for places and everyone will have to fight for their shirt.”
Spalding warmed up for their cup clash at Kesteven with a narrow defeat to higher-ranked Old Scouts RFC in a game that was played over four 20-minute quarters.
There’s also a change in captaincy at Town this season, with Sam Cooke replacing Ryan Chappell as skipper of the first team.
His vice-captain will be Adam McHugh.
Spalding begin their league campaign at Coalville on September 12, before welcoming Dronfield to the Memorial Field for their first home game the following week. The stand-out fixtures of the season could be against local rivals Stamford. They first meet in Spalding on December 5.
