Devoto to make the difference for Titans

TWO sides have dropped down from National One into the West meaning it would be hard to look past one of Cinderford or Taunton Titans bouncing straight back up.

- BEN JAYCOCK

Taunton have signed the league’s most high profile arrival as twotime England international Ollie Devoto, formerly of Bath and Exeter Chiefs, hopes to be a difference maker in their title pursuit.

Devoto, 30, accumulated 127 appearances and scored 21 tries for Exeter but while Luctonians head coach Ryan Watkins sees the value of the signing, he also stresses the importance of developing players internally and sending them the other way.

Watkins told The Rugby Paper: “It’s great for the league but we’ve got young talented players that aspire to get to those levels themselves. We had Archie Benson sign from us to Northampton Saints, so those guys coming down will be up against young, hungry players who will see the likes of Devoto as a challenge to showcase any credentials they might have.

“Our model is very different, we want to develop our own. I prefer young and hungry players, I feel you get a lot more out of them and they give a lot more to the club. We want to be around for a long time, so for the last few seasons, we’ve targeted 20/21-year-olds that might have missed the boat for an academy, been to a decent university programme and when they come out of that we hopefully provide them with a good environment to get better.