LAUNCESTON joint head coach and director of rugby Ryan Westren admits it’s ‘great to add some much-needed depth’ after signing five new players by early June.

Hooker Rory Mead, flanker George Harris plus backs Charlie Atwood, Morgan Woods and Callum Smith have all committed for the upcoming Regional One South West campaign and Westren feels they are in a good space.

He said: “It’s great to add some much-needed depth. Rory Mead is someone who’s been on the radar for a few years, but hasn’t been able to commit for various reasons.

“But it’s nice to finally get him over from Bude and add some depth to a position where we’ve been reliant on (Levent)Fred Bulut for a lot of years.

“Fair play to Fred he’s been very durable and we’ve not had to go without him too often, but will be nice to add some much-needed competition as that brings the best out of everybody, and also the ability to have good, genuine level of cover should either of them not be available.

“With George Harris, we’ve landed on our feet a bit as he got in touch with us having moved to the area.

“With 60-plus caps in the National Leagues for Worthing, he provides plenty of experience which we don’t actually have much of in the squad at the moment.

“We’ve got a lot of guys who’ve played a lot of games for Launceston, but not perhaps the level above and what it takes to win these big games and slug it out through the winter.”

Westren also gave his thoughts on centres Callum Smith and Morgan Woods, the latter who’s arrived from Okehampton.

He continued: “Callum is a new signing, but we’ve already had a glimpse of what he can do and I was really impressed with him at the back end of last season.

“He’s a great defender, runs some really good lines and does the simple things really well.

“With Morgan, he reached out to us and his message explaining his reasoning, blew me away. It hit home a bit there’s still guys out there who are looking to push on with their rugby careers and aren’t happy just to settle.

“It’s testament to us as a club that he’s chosen us, and hopefully we can push on.”

Atwood is likely to line up at scrum-half in place of Plymouth Albion-bound George Hillson.

Westren concluded: “When George left and thought our captain Tom Sandercock wouldn’t be fit for the season, it was absolutely vital that we sorted that nine and ten position.

“We got put in touch with Charlie through one of our players in Seb Cox, and that’s the way we have to operate in the current climate.

“We’re not going out there and spending money and things like that, so that was an area of need that we wanted to address quite quickly and thankfully we’ve managed to do that.

“He comes with good pedigree having started at Tonbridge (Juddians) and has played a good level of forces rugby in the Navy Under 23s and combined services for the UK Armed Forces.

“He’s got some big shoes to fill with what George produced last year, but I’m sure he’ll come in and put his own stamp on things and be a success in his own right.”