Bedford Gets a New Boot
Bedford have announced the signing of former England Under 18 international, Robin Boot, ahead of the new season.
Bedford have been quietly working away during the close season in the shadow of bigger sides in the Championship. This is a good move for the 26 year old prop and the club, who have a very good outside chance of promotion next season.
However, the club are still short of one or two players in vital areas of the field who will help them go up to the next level. It is very important that the club can attract these players if they want to compete with the power of Bristol and Worcester next season.
Boot has a number of quality attributes that mean he will be a key player in the side ahead of next season. However, his problem seems to be consistency and this is an issue he will have to work on if he wants to help his new team succeed.
Attributes
Boot plays at prop and this makes him a very important player in the middle of the pitch. He is very big and strong and he will have to time tackles and challenges well to bring down opposition attacks.
His ambition is still very high and he has already said on the club's website that he hopes Bedford can get promoted into the Premiership. It's important that any player can retain that drive in his career because it will give him the feeling that he is always playing for something.
At 26 years of age he still has a few years left to play during his career. He has already built up a good level of knowledge through playing for London Welsh and Bristol at very high standards. This will mean he will already have knowledge about how to deal with a variety of different situations.
Mike Rayer, the Bedford Director of Rugby, said: "Robin was a fringe player at London Welsh last season, but he's a loosehead prop, which is something that we have needed. He has caught our attention for a while and we had some good reports on him when he was out in France."
Consistency
Consistency seems to have been Boot's problem in his career up to now. This is what stopped him from playing a much bigger role at London Welsh who are by no means a small club.
His consistency is only going to improve if he can get fit, stay fit and play a lot of games for his new club. There will be a few mistakes along the way but the point is that Boot has never really had an extended run in any team and therefore hasn't had a chance to be consistent.
If Bedford are going to hold off the challenge from stronger clubs in the Championship next season then they need Bedford to step up. If they can get him in great condition during the close season then it will leave him ideally prepared to attack the Championship when the new season starts.
Advice
Bedford are a dark horse to win the Championship and gain promotion into the Premiership. Backing them is nothing more than this and you would not be blamed for holding off to see how they start the season.
Boot is likely to play a big role in the team but it will not come in the attacking half of the field. He will not score many, if any, points and tries because his main job will be to hold the team together and fight off any attacks.
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