Fin Creighton among a trio of new additions for Shelford Rugby Club

Shelford have revealed three new signings in preparation for life in London & SE, Regional 1SE after last season’s promotion.

Fin Creighton, Bradley Robinson and CK Shields have all arrived to bolster the squad, which had already been boosted by the majority of the existing players committing to the club for the 2022/23 campaign.

Creighton, 22, was with Bury St Edmunds last season, but has previously been at Cambridge and Coventry.

“After having such a successful start to his senior rugby with Coventry and Cambridge, I think now he is settling into what rugby means to him and where it fits into his wider life,” said Shelford director of rugby Will Cotterill.

But a new position is in store for Creighton, who is currently studying for his PGA golf qualifications.

“Fin has come across to try his hand at fly-half instead of scrum-half, which was his usual position, so I’m quite excited to see how he goes," said Cotterill.

“He’s training really well, and doing really well as a natural leader as well. He is finding his voice, and he has more experience than a lot of the guys around him and shares that really with players.

“I think he had fallen out of love with rugby a little bit, and even though he is young, he’s got a lot of experience at higher level rugby, has a really good rugby brain, and is really committed.”

Robinson is a 21-year-old loose-head prop who has come in from St Ives, having also represented Eastern Counties last season.

“He’s got a stack of potential so we’re pleased to have him on board,” said Cotterill. “There’s a lot of work to do, particularly on his physicality and fitness but he is a really good young rugby player.

“Getting hold of young props like that is fantastic. He had a really good campaign with Eastern Counties which was a good experience for him as well. He was packing down against players from the National Leagues in some of those games and holding his own.”

Shields is a winger who is based at RAF Lakenheath with the US Air Force. He only took up rugby last season, but caught the eye playing for Mildenhall, progressing to represent Suffolk and then Eastern Counties.

“Sike is an absolute bullet,” said Cotterill.

“He has been training with us for the last few weeks, and he and Louie Tang are going to have some really good foot races when we do the sprint challenges.

“Sike is an amazing athlete, with a really good attitude, keen to learn, played a bit of American football but predominantly did track and field.

“He is going to be an exciting prospect when he settles into the season. He is super fast, very athletic, really well built and I think he is going to grow into the squad really well.”

Cotterill added: “It could be exciting as the thought of having him and Louie on the wing with their pace, and Callum Traynor, who joined us from Cambridge last season but tore his hamstring, is back fit and training really well at the moment too and he is really fast so we’ve got some genuine gas that could cause opposition a bit of grief.”

The only departures have been Pete Clark and Will Tyrell, who have moved to London, and Will Buchanan, who is studying at Durham University.