RAMS’ third summer signing Ed Hoadley revealed he cannot wait to get into the mix as he ends an eight-year stint at London Scottish with a move to Old Bath Road, admitting he feels ‘like a young kid again’ as he gets set to make new friends.
The scrum-half, who had previous stints with London Irish and London Welsh while they were in the Premiership, admitted the chance to be part of a community club was a key factor in his signing.
He explained: “Speaking to Seb I got the feel straight away about what the club is about, and at the end of last season I brought my whole family down for a couple of games and they loved it.
“I was at OBR the other day and the physio had been there for 12 years, which was so nice to hear.
“Rams have been doing well, and I want to contribute to that both on and off the pitch – being part of a community club is something I especially can’t wait to be a part of.
“I’m really excited for everything other than next week’s fitness!”
Hoadley’s career kicked off having joined the London Irish system at the age of 14, progressing to the Senior Academy at 18 and playing in both the Premiership and Europe.
Having switched to London Welsh when he expected them to still be in the Championship, the Exiles shock promotion at the expense of Bristol in 2014 meant another campaign in the top flight, one where he learnt plenty from ex All Black No. 9 Piri Weepu.
A tough campaign ended with a move to Scottish where the now 29-year-old has been for the past eight years, a time in which he has seen plenty of changes – including the move to semi-professionalism and his subsequent new business – in the lower half of the second tier of English rugby.
He said: “The Championship is an amazing league with a lot of incredible talent, but I feel for it because it is the Wild West in terms of there are some boys just searching for an opportunity.
“As a league there’s a lot of good stuff but also some terrible things which could be done so much better – it showed when I was invited down to a few games at the end of last season and Rams just felt like an old-school rugby club – juniors in the Rams’ kit, you don’t get that so much in the
Championship. Sometimes it felt like one-off teams.”
He continued: “I enjoyed my time at Scottish and when we went part-time I was lucky enough to set-up a (barber) business after lockdown – it started because I was cutting the boys’ hair!
“I spent a long time at a good club, but this move makes me feel like a bit of a young kid again when you get the chance to meet everyone new – that’s something I’m really looking forward to, hearing everyone’s stories and how long they’ve been there for.”
The No. nine, who knows Zach Clow and Connor Hayhow as teammates from his time at Scottish and last season’s top try-scorer Jak Rossiter from way back in the Irish Academy, is relishing the chance to share ideas with fellow scrum-halves Ollie Cole, Ollie Monye and Alex Sparkes, stating:
“They’re class nines, full of energy, tempo and I’m looking forward to working with them, learning off them and sharing some of my information, it should be so exciting.”
On his own game, he added: “I’m a bit of a kicking nine and organiser who likes to put the team in the right place, but also someone who likes to play at tempo.
“(Now you’ve asked me) If I was to compare myself to someone, maybe Richard Wigglesworth.”
And as he gets set for life at OBR, Hoadley concluded by reiterating how impressed he was with what he saw at the end of last season, ending: “You could see how hard the team worked, especially in defence, and the opportunities that allows on the other side of things in attack – the length-of-
the-field tries were unbelievable, just such good heads-up rugby.
“The defence, work rate and teamwork was just something to behold – I can’t wait to get involved.”
By Richard Ashton
