With the coming season’s fixtures announced this week, Penrith are looking forward to the new campaign and putting their preparations in place for the 2022/23 season.
Head coach David Preston is happy to have the services of almost all of last season’s squad but will lose Matty Boustead moved to the North East in April.
Preston is always looking to strengthen his squad and is delighted to have secured the services of Sam Wilson who has been playing his rugby at Cockermouth.
Sam is 28 and captained the club prior to being seriously injured in the season before COVID. He then came back last season and as well as playing his club rugby impressed those who saw him turn out for Cumbria. After a good showing they only marginally fell short of a trip to Twickenham for the county final.
Sam says being a Cockermouth lad and starting out playing for the club as a six-year-old it has been a really tough decision but a number of factors have come into play.
Cockermouth have suffered as a result of the RFU restructuring and find themselves in the Cumbria league. He knows, and is friends, with the lads who travel to Penrith from out west and he is at the age where the time has come to move if he was going to look to play at a higher level.
Although he will have played most of his rugby at open side wing forward he is looking to play at number eight and as he puts it “let the youngsters do the donkey work”.
Preston said: “We had prioritised strengthening our back row and Sam Wilson is the ideal candidate. We’ve had our eyes on him for a year or two now and I’m really pleased he has decided to come to us.
“At 6ft 2in, 16 stones and a ball player he is ideal and will definitely add something but like the rest of them he’ll have to fight for his place.
“He will fit in with the style of rugby we want to play and will help us kick on as we look to have a real tilt at promotion and a move up the leagues.”
Wilson had said his Cockermouth farewells at their weekend presentation event when he picked-up two awards – the Captain’s Clubman and Bill MacDowell Coaches/Committee Player of the year.
Cockermouth coach Chris Wright said: “Sam has been at the club man and boy and will be missed by everyone (not his singing though!). From everyone at the club, good luck Sam.”
