Announcements and signings aplenty over at Lady Bay as we move into the summer, with Archers Head Coach, Craig Hammond’s wish list ahead of the new season seemingly taking shape.

Right now, though, the Nottingham Rugby boss is enjoying a family break back home, in his native New Zealand, taking time out to look back at a seventh-placed finish for the club in the season not long finished, and to look ahead at what’s to come.

That will be in the new-look, re-named, Champ Rugby league, one that sees an increase from twelve to fourteen clubs, and the addition of Worcester Warriors, and Richmond, who’ve been promoted from National League One.

Looking back at last season, one which saw the Archers pick up three wins in their first five outings, and six in their first ten, up to the end of December, HC Craig Hammond said: “It was a season of two halves really and I thought we did really well during the first half and in January/February we were sitting in fourth.

“Then we had the break for the second part of the Prem Cup which saw us picking up a lot of injuries during that block of games.”

Despite losses in all of the Archers’ Prem Cup outings, it was a valued, learning experience for the club but, the return to action after that second set of matches proved costly overall in the Archers’ season.

“We were playing sides who were at full strength,” explained Hammond.

“At one stage we had what, ten senior players out, including both captains; there was so many injuries which meant the last half of the season we battled with a lot of inexperience.

“I was disappointed with games (in the second half of the season) that we should have won, against Caldy, Scottish, Ampthill, but we turned it around and had a really great win against Cambridge (61-22), and in the last home game against Hartpury (54-33) which was pretty class.

“Then we went down to Cornish (on the final day) and we should have won that, but we missed bloody five out of the six kicks and lost that by a point.”

“Finishing seventh was good though, and our highest finish, so that’s a positive, but the injuries, operations, bad luck that we’ve had, I guess that’s the way it goes.

“I’m really proud of these lads though, for staying in there during the back half of the season.

“The lads put in some good performances, and played really well, especially at home, with that crowd behind us, it makes a massive difference playing here, at Lady Bay.”

Having finished the campaign in a credible seventh place, a dozen points off sixth place Hartpury University, the Archers chief is knowing of the gap that’s needed to be bridged to move things on another level.

Already this summer there’s been numerous changes down at Lady Bay, the positives led by Hammond himself signing a new contract at the club which will keep him there until 2027; however, there have been several departures, ushering in a new breed of player.

“This off-season has seen us lose a lot of experience,” continued the Archers boss.

“(Harry) Clayton has moved to London for work, (Seb) Ferreira and (TJ) Harris have retired, (Jack) Shine has gone to Coventry, (Ryan) Olowfela has moved to Doncaster, as well as a few others moving on, so in essence it’s a changing of the guard.

“Every 3-4 years there’s changes, it’s a cycle, so now the challenge is rebuilding the playing side, and signing some good players, of which we probably need about ten.

“I’m looking at bringing in some youth/student players sprinkled with 3-5 of the more experienced.

“There’s been some great signings already, with a really good balance which is showing where we are as a club.

“It’s a really exciting opportunity to get guys into our mindset.”

Now, with the club continuing to push themselves forward in the hope that the new breed of players can see them break into the top-four in the league, they finished seventeen points behind fourth place Cornish Pirates in the final standings, the league itself has seen a couple of changes ahead of the new campaign.

There’s been a rebranding, that now sees the league being knows as Champ Rugby moving forward, and the number of clubs has increased by two, from twelve to fourteen, the new arrivals being that of Worcester Warriors, and Richmond.

The former of the pair were expelled from the Premiership back in October 2022, retuning, in rugby’s second tier, this coming campaign, whilst the latter of the pair won promotion having won National League One last time around.

“We’ve got Worcester (Warriors) coming into the league which is great,” added Hammond.

“They’ve made some crazy signings; in-fact all of the pro teams have made some kind of big signing as there’s a lot of money out there.

“Richmond meanwhile have come up and they seem to have a really good squad as well, so it’s an exciting time what with the (league) name change and all, I just hope there’s more coming off of that.

“Where we are now though, as a club, and with the board that we have here making it a more sustainable place, it’s an awesome thing to be involved in and the new season is going to have some great challenges, but I’m really looking forward to it.

“A for my new contract, I hope we can go one better and continue climbing the league table; that is the challenge for us, as a club, and where we are at this particular moment.”

Having already made half-a-dozen new signings over at Lady Bay, the Archers will no doubt be announcing more in the coming weeks, adding to the arrivals of a former player in Ben Brownlie (hooker, formerly of Cambridge), as well as Oscar Stott (loosehead prop, formerly Newcastle Falcons), Mink Scharink (tighthead prop formerly of Loughborough University), Evan Mitchell (flyhalf from Ampthill), and locks Osian Thomas (from Leicester Tigers) and Michael Etete (Cornish Pirates).

*Article provided by Peter Mann (Senior Correspondent).

*Main image @NottinghamRugby Craig Hammond’s side finished seventh last season.