Dover Sharks head coach Chris Dengate says he has no doubts at all that Aaron Cooper is good enough to make the step up after the prop forward agreed a move to Canterbury.

The 26-year-old has been at Crabble since he was a youngster but is moving across east Kent to test himself at a higher level.

Tighthead Cooper is the latest in a line of Dover players who have been recruited by Canterbury and follows Ricky Mackintosh, Martyn Beaumont - present Canterbury captain - and Harry Sayers, who last week represented the England Counties under-20 squad.

Coach Dengate said Cooper will leave some big boots to fill but the club wished him every success.

He added:“Aaron’s been with us boy to man and he’s an absolute top lad. We will miss him but he goes with our blessing.

"The beauty of Dover is that we develop talent really well and we take it as a compliment when our players go on to play at a higher level.

“Moving up from London 1 South to National 2 South is a huge step but Aaron’s definitely got the ability. He’s super fit, super strong and he has lot of character. I have no doubts he will do well there.”

Dengate says his own recruitment is ‘going nicely’ with centre Anthony Hart the one new face so far after moving over from near neighbours Deal & Betteshanger.

Dover begin pre-season training on Tuesday and Dengate says he hopes starting that bit earlier will help them steal a march on their rivals.

He explained: “When I met with each of the players at the end of last season I told them we’re a team in transition but we don’t have the time for transition so hopefully starting now will give us a two-week jump on everyone else.”