BRADFORD Salem’s rugby chairman Chris Robinson has told his club to stop looking for the perfect plan.

In his speech at Salem’s players’ dinner in their clubhouse, he said: “The perfect plan does not exist. What we need is a workable plan.”

Salem finished ninth in Yorkshire Division One in 2018-19, using 62 players, and Robinson added: “It has been a season of fits and starts, and due to a lack of availability and commitment we have suffered.

“But Neil Spence and Dan Scarbrough have shown commitment and resilience in charge of the first team.

“The second XV under Sam Gardner have won their league, with thanks also to Jamie Symons, while at junior level we have teams at under-fives, sixes, sevens, eights, nines, 10s, 11s and 12s, with over 60 regularly playing rugby on our pitches on a Sunday morning.

“The dynamic is quite different and quite special, so thanks to Rebecca Whitford and Geraint Gibbs, and it is difficult to get a car parking space!”

Robinson added: “The under-14s have had a fantastic season with their squad of 20 players, while the under-16s winning the Yorkshire Plate was a huge source of pride, and thanks are due there to Simon Markey and Robin Kay.

“The under-17s reached the semi-finals of the Yorkshire Plate.”

First XV skipper Christian Baines said: “Salem is in a better place now than it was a few years ago and I see a bright future for the club with what is a really good production line to hopefully take us to the next level.”

Former Aspatria, Sale and England wing Steve Hanley was the main speaker, and admitted that he had come to terms with being a “one-cap wonder”.

Injuries prevented him from adding to the sole international that he earned against Wales in the 1999 Five Nations, but he did score a try in the 32-31 defeat at Wembley, which was the venue for Wales’ matches that season as the Millennium Stadium was being built in Cardiff.

Hanley also suffered a broken arm in that match after being handed off by Craig Quinnell, and Hanley explained: “England had a settled side under Clive Woodward, and once you were in it was hard to get out as they were winning most of the time.”

However, he did notch a feat as a 19-year-old that season (1998-99) that will surely never be repeated, playing for England’s under-19s, under-21s, A team, sevens team and full side.