Rosslyn Park are aiming to cement last season’s impressive performance after sealing a new sponsorship deal with Arena Events Group (AEG), writes Jo Robinson.

The events management company will take over as the club’s principal sponsor for the forthcoming three seasons and in a statement claimed they were ‘delighted to be sponsoring and supporting one of the oldest names in rugby.’ Little wonder coach Florent Rossigneaux is delighted with the development.

He said: “It will help the club to move further forward. We’re getting better on the pitch so this deal backs that up nicely.”

Despite keeping almost the same team as last season, Rossigneaux admits he now has the luxury of a bit of extra money should the need to bring in new players arise.

Even so, the emphasis though is building on last year’s squad and Florent explained that the new sponsorship deal will be of most importance to the commercial side of the club, giving them some breathing space.

The club’s pre-season fixtures get underway on August 15, when a combined first and second Rosslyn team will play away at Bedford Blues. The team will play Blackheath on the final weekend of August, a game which should see the squad selection for the start of the season pretty much decided.

With pre-season training well underway, the initial focus for Florent and the team has been on fitness levels.

He added: “We looked at our performance and we’ve worked really hard on fitness because it’s something we thought we could improve on.

“It means we’ve got more time to spend on other areas like individual technique which is obviously a big plus.

“All the players had their own individual goals and programmes set out for them over the break, which they’ve followed well and come back in good shape.

“The aim is definitely to win the league, but we need to start the season with at least the idea of being in the top two.”