Dover Sharks head coach Chris Dengate has strengthened his squad by signing a new

scrum-half.

Ben Ridout moves to Crabble having enjoyed a successful campaign with Aylesford Bulls in London 3 South East last season.

Dengate said: “He’s a fantastic scrum half and scored 25 tries last season, so I’ve no doubt he will be able to step up.

"He’s been on my radar since last October when I was trawling through match reports on various other club websites looking for names which stood out regularly.

"He was scoring tries for fun and we were looking for a scrum-half to help take our game plan on to the next level, so it made sense to try and sign him.”

Dengate says 21-year-old Ridout chose Sharks despite interest from other Kent clubs, among them Dover’s London 1 South rivals Maidstone and Sidcup.

The coach added: “Ben did speak to other clubs but he seemed genuinely excited about what we are trying to do here and I think the fact that we plan to play a different way to other clubs in our division was a factor in why he came to us.”

Ridout is the second new face at Crabble, joining Anthony Hart, who, said Dengate, moved over from Deal & Betteshanger ‘of his own accord.’

Dengate was disappointed to miss out on signing Tom Best, who has chosen to stay at National 2 South Canterbury but he is delighted to have second rower Dale Tonks and hooker Kirk Savage back after work commitments restricted their appearances last season.

A total of 56 players attended Dover’s players’ meeting earlier this month with around 40 turning up for training since.