New signings

We have signed a scrum half but the announcement cannot be made yet. We are still to sign a third scrum half and a ball carrying second row, the description of this prospective player was being like an athletic Garrick Morgan. As yet such a player isn't available so the search goes on, we already have four good, Premiership quality locks in Evans, Miall, Rudzki and Winters so signing another similar player is pointless we want to sign a different kind of player who will bring something more to the squad.

Maurice Fitzgerald (prop joining from Biarritz) another player that Evs has had his eye on for a while, he has played in BO's Heineken Cup campaign and can play either side of the scrum but we will almost certainly play him at tight head.

Dafydd James (centre joining from Celtic Warriors) is greatly undervalued, he has 40+ caps for Wales and three for the British Lions so he has a huge amount of experience. He has been played out of position on the wing recently and he has had some injury problems too. His career has taken a bit of a dip recently but he is looking to go on the next Lions Tour.

Joe Mbu (wing joining from Bath) is a bit of a punt (at least that is what I think Evs said), he is a 'big unit' and a tremendous athlete, he is there to give back up if George is injured. He had a lot of work permit problems when he was at Bath. Also his name is nice and short so it will save money on the letters on the back of his shirt!

Maama Molitika (back row joining from Celtic Warriors) was signed just because he has a great name! Evs was looking at tapes of Robert Sidoli but Molitika stood out more in those games, He is the sort of player that we don't have that we have been looking for - a ball carrying back row.

Jeremy Staunton (fly half/utility back from Munster) Evs has been after him for a long time, he has tried to sign him a couple of times in the past, when Burke signed for Munster he signed for us very quickly. He is an incredible talent and was seen as the next great Irish star when he was playing schoolboy rugby, a bit like Gavin Duffy. He wants to play fly-half but he can play pretty much anywhere in the backs. He got a lot of stick at Munster but he was playing injured for much of last season. He had a groin injury that meant he could barely run or kick - not a good thing for a fly half!

Academy Players

There has been a big new intake at the eighteen year old level, fourteen new players have joined the Academy, of those about 33% are expected to make the first team squad and  of those 50% will be expected to be in the starting 15. In this new intake there is a young lock who looks to be a tremendous prospect, he is tall, big and very fast.

The U19 team will continue but the U21 side has been disbanded because there was little good competition to play against. The 'A' side will continue with the A League in the same format as last season.

Henry Barratt, Chris Cracknell, Adrian Jarvis, Ugo Monye, Andy Reay, Tom Williams will continue to train with the first team squad 

Cameron Dott (hooker), Tom Guest (flanker), Duncan James (scrum half), Mark Lambert (tight head), Tom Muggridge (loose head) and Marlow Warrington-Mattei (hooker) will start training with the first team squad for the first time.

Ugo Monye has played England 7s for the last two years so he will not be doing so this year because we need him, we will have to provide another player for the core squad and another for the wide squad.

Tom Williams (full back) it's amazing that he isn't in the England U21s squad for the current U21 World Championships, he is an incredible talent, very skilful and fast. Having upset John Callards was one suggested reason why he hasn't been selecteded.

Other news

4,000 season tickets have been sold and all the boxes have been sold too - this is unheard of for June.

Leicester are showing interest in signing Scott Bemand.

Evs still doesn't like the idea of relegation and promotion.

The preseason fixture on the weekend of the 27^th August is still to be decided depending on the start date of the Celtic League.

The North Stand has gone and the new North Stand will be in place for the start of the season.

The pitch has been reseeded.

Planning approval for the West Stand should be heard either at the end of July or in September, we are cautiously optimistic. If we get the go ahead building will start at the end of the year.

Many thanks to Evs and Scotty for coming to the meeting.

The official minutes from the AGM are available on the Quinssa site www.quinssa.org.uk.

NB I didn't take notes during the meeting so if people can remember any more then please tell me and I will add it to this article (prof@comeallwithin.co.uk)
Thanks to Worried of Whitton for the added information

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