WHEN a current British and Irish Lion recommends a player it is the done thing to accept the advice unquestioningly and act immediately upon it, and that is exactly what Sedgley Park did when they signed 22-year-old lock Chris Rowe from Welsh Premiership outfit, Llanelli RFC.

"After deciding not to retain Louiz Holtshausen we were in need of another second row and having looked at what was available in England we decided to cast our net further afield," explained Tigers president, Geoff Roberts.

"We were contacted by Welsh player agent Rhydian Thomas who recommended Chris to us, and then when Tim Fourie spoke to Simon Easterby about him and received a glowing report, we decided to make him an offer.

"Tim knows Simon and he said Chris is a player you would always want playing for you, rather than against you.

"He said he is an uncompromising, hard working lad who gives his all. Quite simply all we want him to do is give us some options in the lineout, carry the ball into contact and work hard in the rucks.

"We don't want him to be a flash player, we just want him to be consistent. He looks more athletic than Louiz so hopefully he will be able to use his size and mobility when driving the ball forward."

Ireland flanker Easterby is currently in New Zealand trying to force his way into Sir Clive Woodward's squad for this Saturday's make or brake second test against the All Blacks.

Rowe has progressed through Llanelli's ranks from its development squad through the under 21s and into the semi-professional first team.

With further progress into the fully professional Scarlets' ranks blocked by a number of older, more experienced locks, like Wales internationals Chris Wyatt and Vernon Cooper, along with former Springbok Hottie Louw, Rowe decided to seek pastures new.

However, while with Llanelli he claimed a number of playing honours.

Last season he was a member of the club's Welsh cup winning side, also helping it to a fourth-place finish in the Welsh Premiership.

He has also represented Wales at Under 21 level and during his rise through the ranks was voted the club's Development Squad and Under 21 Player of the Year.

Rowe's acquisition opens up new avenues when it comes to player recruitment.

"Since Tim's been with us we have used the Leeds and South African route and never really thought about Wales, Scotland, or even Ireland as recruiting grounds," explained Roberts

"But now we have Chris hopefully he will be able to point us in a new direction along with Rhydian Thomas and other agents like Martin Shuttleworth, afterall, if you can't find decent players in Wales you can't find them anywhere. We will also now start to seriously considered lads from Scotland and Ireland too."

However, closer to home the club is hoping to turn to its own youth system to produce first team players of National One standard.

"Over the last couple of seasons we have seen the likes of Gareth Roberts and Chris Wilkinson break into the first team squad and we believe we will be seeing a few more following them," said Roberts.

"Over the next couple of seasons we will be looking to the likes of Jonny Appleton, Alex Youngman the Albinson brothers, Tom and Jamie, along with hooker John Geddis and the returning Stuart Campbell to hopefully make the step up.

"Jonny played for England Under 18s on the wing, although for the Colts and seconds he has played centre, scrum-half and stand-off. We are looking to introduce him to the first team set-up on the wing.

"With all of them and any others that show they have the hunger to make it we mean to look at the areas where they need to improve and work on achieving that improvement on a one-to-one basis."

The club is still pursuing another stand-off and it is hopeful of announcing the name of the Kiwi number eight it is in advanced negotiations with.

l Pre-season training begins on Monday, July 4, and this season the aim is to train three times per week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.