Rugby Union: Mike Rayer to insist Bedford Blues players live close to town ...

Mike Rayer has insisted that every Bedford Blues player must live close to the town next season – as the club plan how to bounce back from a disappointing campaign.

The Director of Rugby wants more time on the training field after the Championship finalists of 2012/13 slipped back to mid-table obscurity this time around.

It is hoped that the club can ‘bridge the gap’ between part-time and full-time rugby as part of their bid to revitalise their fortunes.

“We have discussed the possibility of being able to spend more time with the players than the handful of hours we do at the moment,” said Blues chairman Geoff Irvine at the club’s AGM this week.

“This way Mike can have not only extra hours for training, but also more time to spend on analysis.

“In order to achieve this, Mike is insistent that players must live within a certain radius of Bedford so that they are here and available.

“Is this full-time? No, but it is us dipping our toes in the water to see if we can bridge that gap.

“Is full-time the answer? Well, there are teams below us in the league who are full-time and it is fair to say that it hasn’t quite worked for them.

“What I will say is that we are looking at a transition and we want to do something positive to get us back up the right end of the table.”

Blues have already signed Cambridge fullback/winger Jim Wigglesworth and secured borrowed Saracens back row Nick Fenton-Wells permanently, but there promises to be much more activity with strengthening a necessity.

Back rower Joe Vandermolen, hooker Charlie Clare and scrum half Darryl Veenendaal have also penned contracts to extend their stay at Goldington Road with Mr Irvine hinting that several positions were in need of some fresh blood.

The chairman also said that the dual registration agreement with Premiership friends Saracens has not been able to be used to the same effect this season, which may have had an impact on results.

“I’ve had talks with Mike Rayer about what we can do on the pitch and I can reassure everyone that the recruitment process for next season is already well underway and we have identified a number of areas that need strengthening,” he said.

“We continue to have a great working relationship with Saracens but in all honesty we did not benefit from it this time around as we have previously.

“Saracens suffered a huge amount of injuries this year and as a result they needed their players and we had to live with that.

“It was tough especially as we had so many injuries ourselves and as a result, Mike hasn’t been able to have the consistency that I’m sure he would have liked.

“You also have to remember, and again we have been the victims of our own success, last season – from the start of pre-season to the final again Newcastle – was 333 days.

“This season is even longer. It is ridiculous and needs to be looked at. The lads who left us to join Wasps only had ten days off.

“Yes, we have all been disappointed with the way this season has turned out but we’ve had tough seasons before and we’ve always managed to bounce back.

“We’ll take this season on the chin, pick ourselves up and move forward.”

Away from the field, Mr Irvine said that the club needed to address funding issues as despite playing success, they hadn’t broke even.

“One of the key points that we needed to convey was that given the huge amount of success that we had on the pitch last season, namely reaching the final of the Championship and semi-final of the British Irish Cup, we didn’t come close to the magic breaking even point and it is clear that the model that we have isn’t working,” he said.

“We need to address funding and launching a Rights Issue is one way of generating some much needed funds that can be used to build the team, maintain the ground and turn the debt that we have into equity.

“Quite soon the board is also hoping to host a meeting with some influential people within Bedford in order to look at raising much needed funds.

“There are people in the town who want to be involved with the club but may not be able to throw themselves into it 100 per cent. We want to look at ways in which we can accommodate these people in a way that would be beneficial to them and the club.”

Article source: http://www.itv.com/news/granada/2014-03-18/rugby-league-challenge-cup-draw/

Rugby Union: Mike Rayer to insist Bedford Blues players live close to town ...