Shoguns Irish Visit.

New Shoguns head coach, Peter Thorburn has taken a full squad including two young Academy players to Ireland for the pre-season three match tour. The coaching staff are keen to bring on the Club’s young talent, which has seen both Tom Luke, a recent Academy recruit and Jon
Clarke the England U19 full back who represented the Shoguns U21s last year, team up with the first team.

The Shoguns first team squad has been back in training since early
July and the Irish tour represents a great opportunity for the team to impress new head coach Peter Thorburn.

Commenting about the progress the team has made so far in pre-season training, Peter Thorburn said:
“We’ve
concentrated a lot of our training efforts on skills, drills, fitness and speed but not a lot of specific game play situations. We’ll be looking to consolidate on-the-field organisation whilst we’re in Ireland.”

The series of games in Ireland will also provide the Shoguns’ new signings
with the opportunity to impress. The first two games will provide Martin Shaw, Scott Morgan, Peter Richards and the trio of Shoguns Academy recruits the chance to put on a first team shirt.
Thorburn said: “We’ve got a number of players who are relatively new to the squad and need to build into them what we want to achieve as a team and the
way we want to play the game. I’m not worried about the results. The tour is about focusing on plays and patterns on the field. The tour will be a good opportunity for all
of the players.”

Although both Agustin Pichot and Felipe Contepomi will travel to Ireland they won’t be pulling on a Shoguns shirt. The tour will probably also be too
soon for both Alex Brown and Julian White who have only recently returned to training after summer operations.

Commenting on the young players making the trip, Thorburn added: “It is an investment. They’re good enough to train with the first team and they’ll learn a tremendous amount and gain in experience from travelling to Ireland.”