With pre-season due to begin at the start of July, our Director of Rugby, Nick Easter has been working hard to further strengthen our squad for our fifth campaign in National 1.

We are pleased to be able to welcome Alun Walker, Izzy Wharton and Matt Woodward to our Chinnor Family, and we look forward to soon seeing them in action at Kingsey Road.

Following the encouraging news that the majority of last season's squad are staying at the Club, we can now begin to introduce our new faces.

Walker is an experienced hooker and joins Chinnor following nine years with Ealing Trailfinders, during which time he won the Championship league title, Championship Cup, British & Irish Cup and National 1. Alun is a versatile hooker who is as exceptional at his line-out throwing and scrummaging as he is in the loose, scoring more than 70 tries for Ealing. The 32-year-old has also played for Edinburgh and Nottingham, and has been capped by Scotland at U18-U20 level.

Easter said: "Alun Walker is a player with a wealth of experience at the elite level and operates at a very high standard in his set piece play each week which is essential in this league. More importantly from my point of view is he is a really top bloke with excellent values who wants to still improve, enjoy his rugby, along with nurturing some of the youngsters at the Club."

Wharton is a young promising back row from South Africa. He helped False Bay to become Super League A Champions last year and represented Western Province U20s in 2021. Izzy is the latest in a long line of South Africans to join our Club and we welcome him warmly to our Club.

Easter commented: "Izzy Wharton joins us from False Bay in South Africa. He is enjoying an excellent season in a league I know well which breeds hard-hitting no-nonsense players. He is still young and captained the prestigious Cape Town school Bishops. I am very excited to see what he will add and how he will grow in our environment."

Woodward is a young powerful prop, capable of playing loosehead and tighthead. The Durham University graduate represented England Students last year, and has previously been with Caldy, Coventry and Ampthill.

Easter said: "Matt is a very explosive player and I have been impressed with his maturity for such a young man. He will join us after getting some rugby under his belt in Australia."