WIBSEY’S bid to make an impact in Yorkshire Division Three can be seen by their recruitment of a trio of Bradford Salem players.

Flanker, prop or centre Conor Wood, fly half or centre Harry Hall and full back or winger Ryan Smith are joining the Yorkshire Division Four champions, who have also signed Adam Jefferson from amateur rugby league.

Wibsey’s player-head coach Andy Robinson said: “The trio were talking about coming last season but wanted an extra year at Bradford Salem so we respected that but they are on board now.

“We probably see Conor playing in the pack – at six or seven – although he is happy to play anywhere for us, including prop.

“We are looking at inside centre for Harry, whose experience will be great for us, and he can play 10 for us if needs be and I could play 12, while we see Ryan as a full back.

“He has six or seven years’ experience of playing rugby union and teams in the division that we are going into kick a lot of ball.”

Robinson, who played alongside Hall, Smith and Wood at Shay Lane before moving to Wibsey last season, added: “Adam has been playing a good level of rugby league for a long time at Bradford Dudley Hill and he is a tall lad who could play second row after Marcus Grimes’ retirement last season and with Josh Tordoff being fairly new to the sport.

“There are a couple more signings that we are looking at which we want to keep under our hat for the minute as other clubs are interested in them, but we had to recruit for what we expect to be a big challenge every week, although we haven’t got a specific goal set yet for where we would like to finish.

“We have to make sure that we put a strong team out every Saturday but numbers in training are growing every week.

“I am particularly looking forward to the Baildon games and those against Aireborough, where I hope to catch up with Simon Davies, who is a big mate of mine, but there are a lot of West Yorkshire-based clubs in the division where we have friends.”

Wood, who used to play rugby league for West Bowling, said: “I just want to play alongside my mates and things had gone a bit stale for me at Salem.

“I also have a job which means I might not be available for every training session but hopefully I will be available most weeks for matches.”

Hall said: “I think people have known since last Christmas that Ryan and myself were coming to Wibsey but I used to play here when I was 17, although I only played five or six matches, and my dad (Tim) played for Wibsey as well.

“This will be one of the best back lines that I have played with and if we can get those ticking, along with a tough forward pack we can really challenge this season and I am looking forward to it.

“Conor is a big, aggressive forward and Ryan has the pace in the backs so we will be looking to play it wider this year.”

Smith said: “I am looking forward to it and hopefully I will be playing full back.”