As Jersey Reds players get ready to kick off the 2017/18 season, two more players have been added to the squad: lock Tom Quarrie and centre Ellis Abrahams.
29-year-old Quarrie was born in Stafford in England before emigrating with his family to New Zealand at the age of five. He was a member of the renowned Marist club in Auckland, and played age-grade rugby for Auckland up to under 18 level, and subsequently for the Auckland Development team.
Moving back to Europe at the age of 23 to further his rugby career, Quarrie joined Birmingham & Solihull RFC and played twice for the 'Bees' against Jersey in National One in 2011/12. He has subsequently played for Basque club Ordizia in the Spanish league, and in France for Grasse, Romans and Stade Niçois.
Abrahams was born in London but brought up in Sydney, Australia and played colts rugby for the Manly Marlins from the age of 17, as well as playing for the Emerging Rays under 20s, coached by Neil Tunnah - the new Reds' Forwards Coach - and the New South Wales Waratahs under 20s under the coaching of Michael Cheika, now coach of the Australian national team.
The 22-year-old, who is listed as a centre but can also fill other berths in the back-line, moved to England in 2016 and made seven appearances for Hartpury in their National 1 title-winning campaign, as well as playing for Gloucester United.
The duo bring the Reds' confirmed squad to 34 players, 20 forwards and 14 backs:
Prop: Jake Armstrong, LeeRoy Atalifo, Jordan Brodley, Alec Clarey, Roy Godfrey, Jake Woolmore
Hooker: Jack Macfarlane, Jared Sauders, Nick Selway
Lock: Uili Kolo'ofa'i, Dave McKern, Tom Quarrie, Jerry Sexton, James Voss
Back Row: Max Argyle, Rory Bartle, Conor Joyce, Seb Nagle-Taylor, Rory Pitman, Matt Rogerson
Half-back: Oli Bryant, Brendan Cope, Tim Duchesne, Joel Dudley, Kieran Hardy
Centre: Ellis Abrahams, Mark Best, George Eastwell, 'Apakuki Ma'afu
Wing/Full-back: Ross Adair, Josh Hodson, Tom Pincus, Scott van Breda, Jason Worrall
August sees three pre-season matches for the Island side: away to RC Vannes on Saturday August 5th, at home to Coventry a week later, and then in London against Harlequins on Saturday August 19th. The Greene King IPA Championship season begins with the home game against Doncaster Knights on Saturday September 2nd. All the Reds' fixtures for the forthcoming season can now be found via THIS LINK
