CHINNOR RFC Thame is pleased to announce the signings of centres Jack Snowden and Kris Ford.
The duo have been training with our Senior Squad since last summer and will feature in next month’s friendlies with Rams.
Snowden, who is also comfortable on either wing or at full-back, comes from a rugby league background, having spent five years as a professional at Super League side Hull Kingston Rovers.
The 30-year-old has also played for Hull Dockers and West Hull, sandwiching a four-year spell at union side Hullensians.
Snowden, who works as a police officer, is also the captain of Yorkshire Police RUFC and vice-skipper for England Police RUFC and Great Britain Police RLFC.
The Hull-born back is enjoying his time with Chinnor so far.
He said: “The Club’s ambition is really exciting and I want to help Chinnor progress and push on again after the enforced COVID break. I’ve been training here since last summer and I’ve really enjoyed it – the boys have been great and so welcoming. The training sessions are fantastic and we’ve been having a lot of fun mixed in with plenty of hard work getting ourselves back up to speed and quickly becoming game ready for our fixtures against Rams. The coaching staff Richard (Thorpe, Director of Rugby) has assembled here are fantastic and when you have people of that quality you just have to listen, train hard, learn as much as you can and do your best out on the pitch.”
Ford joins Chinnor from Newbury Blues, having also enjoyed a spell in rugby league.
The 29-year-old powerful centre switched codes to play for Oxford RL in Kingstone Press League 1 before returning to union with the Berkshire club.
Despite being with our Senior Squad since last summer, Ford has been recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament injury, but is looking forward to kicking on now he is training fully.
He said: “Signing for Chinnor is a huge positive for me during what has been a hard time, with COVID interrupting rehab following an ACL surgery. Training at first was difficult being isolated from the squad while I continued rehab with Becky (Osborn, Head Physio), but now I’m finally back to full training I’m looking forward to ripping in and testing myself at this level. The standard the lads have set for themselves is something that has really stood out to me. The prospect of playing some games in the near future is very exciting and I can’t wait to pull on the Chinnor shirt for the first time.”
Chinnor RFC Thame Director of Rugby, Richard Thorpe said: “Both Jack and Kris have developed well throughout this season. Jack has been a huge character for us on and off the field, and I am looking forward to seeing him play in May. Kris unfortunately spent the first half of the season managing an injury, but he has since impressed in training. He is a big ball carrier in the 12 channel, but couples this well with his skill set.”
