Dover Sharks head coach Chris Dengate delighted to have signed scrum-half Ben Ridout who played for Aylesford Bulls last season
00:00, 30 June 2016
Dover Sharks head coach Chris Dengate has strengthened his squad by signing a new
scrum-half.
Ben Ridout moves to Crabble having enjoyed a successful campaign with Aylesford Bulls in London 3 South East last season.
Dengate said: “He’s a fantastic scrum half and scored 25 tries last season, so I’ve no doubt he will be able to step up.
"He’s been on my radar since last October when I was trawling through match reports on various other club websites looking for names which stood out regularly.
"He was scoring tries for fun and we were looking for a scrum-half to help take our game plan on to the next level, so it made sense to try and sign him.”
Dengate says 21-year-old Ridout chose Sharks despite interest from other Kent clubs, among them Dover’s London 1 South rivals Maidstone and Sidcup.
The coach added: “Ben did speak to other clubs but he seemed genuinely excited about what we are trying to do here and I think the fact that we plan to play a different way to other clubs in our division was a factor in why he came to us.”
Ridout is the second new face at Crabble, joining Anthony Hart, who, said Dengate, moved over from Deal & Betteshanger ‘of his own accord.’
Dengate was disappointed to miss out on signing Tom Best, who has chosen to stay at National 2 South Canterbury but he is delighted to have second rower Dale Tonks and hooker Kirk Savage back after work commitments restricted their appearances last season.
A total of 56 players attended Dover’s players’ meeting earlier this month with around 40 turning up for training since.
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