Will Safe will play for Hartpury in the Championship next season.
The flanker was released by Gloucester in the summer after an injury-hit season having made 11 appearances in total during his time at the club.
Safe, 23, has come up through the Hartpury system though and played for the senior side before so he will be in familiar surroundings and bolster their squad.
After avoiding relegation by only three points last year, Hartpury have added experience to combat the ‘battle’ they will face.
The Gillman’s Ground side won just seven games last season as they narrowly avoided the drop in a survival scrap with Richmond and it has prompted changes over the summer with Safe being joined by the likes of Seb-Nagle Taylor from Rotherham Titans and Luke Carter from Ealing Trailfinders.
Speaking from the Greene King IPA Championship launch event at Twickenham Stadium ahead of the 2019/20 season, Hartpury director of rugby John Barnes said: “Last season was a tough one for us. There were some good performances towards the end of the season when guys came back from injury but it’s always going to be a battle for us in this league.
“We are part-time, we always train early mornings so week in, week out it’s tough to compete but we’ll do the same this year and try to compete because we feel we can really challenge at this level.
“The new guys have brought some professionalism in with them. Luke Carter at scrum-half has been at Ealing for a number of years and he brought that professional attitude with him.
“Seb-Nagle Taylor from Rotherham looks a really talented youngster who’s still got that potential, we look forward to him showing what he can do.
“Will Safe was released by Gloucester but he’s a Hartpury boy through and through having been with us when he was 16, so they’ve all got talent and Luke brings that experience with him of having played in a top Championship side for a number of years.”
Hartpury scored the lowest amount of points in the division with 415 last season and so, naturally, the focus for this year is on improving their attack.
The uniqueness of the especially long pre-season this year has allowed the team to put a lot of work into an area which, according to Barnes, is the natural progression of focus in what will be their third year in the league.
He added: “I think our attack has to be improved. When we came into the league we knew we had to be strong in defence and we really focused in the first year on set pieces and then added defensive work last year.
Top Gloucester Rugby stories
“Certainly this year so far we’ve worked mainly on our attacking work, we want to add more tries and not win those games by a couple of points but win them by a few more.”
The Greene King IPA Championship is the second tier of professional rugby in England. To keep up to date with the latest news and features follow @ChampRugby on Twitter
