Fylde RFC is delighted to announce that scrum-half Steve Depledge has joined the Club for the 2011/12 season. The 23 year old former Bath & Leeds Carnegie Academy player has been first choice no 9 at Otley for the last two seasons whilst they were in National One and was the Club's Player of the Season in 2009/10. He also skippered the Cross Green club on a number of occasions.
He has played frequently in the Aviva 'A' league for both his home town club, Bath, and Leeds since moving to the North to study for a degree in the city. He has been almost ever present in Otley's starting line-up, making 56 appearances and scoring 12 tries in two seasons.
His representative honours include South West U'16s, England Colleges, British Colleges, Somerset County at various ages and including senior level, and a member of the current Yorkshire senior squad.
Steve was born in Bath and attended Beechen Cliff Senior School and then Richard Huish Sixth Form College in Taunton. He joined Somerset's Cricket Academy for a period but choose rugby instead. He studied at Leeds Metropolitan University where he graduated with a BSc honours in Sports Coaching. He works as a community rugby coach based at Leeds Carnegie.
Steve Depledge said: “I am very excited and thrilled to be joining Fylde and working with the calibre of coaches they have in Mark Nelson and Brian Ashton. As a player, I have ambitions to be the best I can and I believe Fylde will give me this opportunity to improve so that I can help the Club build on their success from last season and strive for further success in the future. I spoke to Mark about the upcoming season and when he outlined the ambitions of the Club and the brand of rugby that Fylde embrace, I was very keen to join. Having played for Otley in National 1 for the previous two seasons I know what a tough challenge it’ll be, as the standards in National 1 increase year on year. I hope my experience at this level will help contribute to another successful season at Fylde.
“It was a tough decision to leave Otley as I have made a number of friends there and it was my first proper club having previously been at two academies but with the outstanding set up at Fylde and the squad they have it was an opportunity I couldn’t miss. I’m very much looking forward to meeting the rest of the squad and can’t wait to start pre-season and what looks like being an exciting season in National One and hopefully a very successful one too!”
Head Coach Mark Nelson said: "Steve is a high quality scrum-half and will be a real asset to Fylde. He comes with a glowing reputation from his two seasons at Otley and has very good experience of National One as well as at Somerset & Yorkshire county level. Steve approached us and we were really impressed by his commitment. When talented players like Steve want to improve their careers by moving to the Woodlands then it shows we are creating an exciting development environment which is being recognised widely."
Photo: Steve Depledge & Mark Nelson. Taken by Helen Ashton.
