McComb joins coaching team

Gareth McComb will begin the transition towards coaching with a player/coach role for this season.

The former Rotherham, Birmingham and Nottingham back row has notched up over 15,000 minutes of rugby in the last 10 years and he goes into the 2014/15 season, his 6th at Volac Park, with 130 games for the Blood & Sand under his belt.

Rowland adds, "Gareth is due to have a minor op to tidy up a niggling injury and will not return to play until the new season has started so we saw this as the perfect opportunity to start his coaching involvement with the team."

"He has no intention to hang his boots up just yet, and we are glad of that, he has so much to offer and we are delighted to help his coaching development as he helps the development of our young squad."

Matt Goode joins in a player / coach role

Matt Goode, 31, is a centre who is also comfortable across the backline. Formerly with Rugby Lions for over 6 years, Goode joined Chinnor in 2010 where he has been a stand-out player and part of the coaching staff for the last 4 seasons. He joins the Blood & Sand to develop his coaching and he will continue to play as he becomes the 10th addition this summer.

Matt also works at Northampton Saints and has done for over 7 years in a variety of coaching roles. He currently manages the award-winning HITZ programme alongside Premiership Rugby in the Saints Community team.

Rowland is delighted to sign Goode: "We have been looking to add to our coaching team as we continue to grow all areas of the club. I have known Matt for quite a while, and he is a talented coach that has already helped develop our players this season in his East Midlands U20 role. He will predominantly work with the backs, but will be involved across the club as he helps us develop. As a player he was influential in our games against Chinnor this season scoring 4 tries and constantly making holes in our defence, and we look forward to him doing more of the same for us."

Craig adds: "As a player Matt has the size, style and experience that we have been looking for, so we are excited to bring him to Volac Park. He is one of the best players that we have played against this season, and has shown the characteristics that we look for at Cambridge and we will need more of across the squad to push on. We expect him to have a big impact."

Read the Cambridge News report here.

Hircock added to Blood & Sand backline

Corey Hircock is welcomed to Volac Park, as the 9th addition ahead of the new season.

Hircock, who joins from Bedford Blues, is comfortable across the backline and brings a wealth of experience from his time at Bedford and with Munster, where he spent two seasons, which included winning the British & Irish Cup in 2012.

"We continue to develop and progress as a club, and adding experience and quality to the squad was key. Corey's addition is exciting and we expect him to play a important role at the club over the next few years, not just with the 1st XV but also delivering coaching as part of our community outreach team"

"We expect to add a couple more backs over the next few weeks before we join up to start pre-season on 21st June"

An update on player movements...

Incoming Players: Corey Hircock, Ben Cooper, Tom Armes (all join from Bedford Blues), Stefan Liebenberg (Old Albanians), Gerhard Boshoff (Leicester Lions), Gino Belmonte (Bromsgrove), Pete Kolakowski (Peterborough), Matt Hubbart (Leicester Tigers).

Outgoing Players: Jim Wigglesworth (Bedford), Ben Brownlie (Nottingham), Jack Daly (Old Albanians), Dan Hemingway (Retired), John Hale, Jordan Husband, Dan Brotherton, (all released)

Read more in the Cambridge News