Aviva Premiership Rugby Football Union club Gloucester Rugby has announced that Dan Murphy and Bill Meakes have signed an extension of their contracts with the club and will remain at Kingsholm for the foreseeable future.
The Cherry and Whites have been making preparations for the new season for quite some time and the news of Meakes and Murphy signing an extension comes as a real boost for them.
Seven members of the squad apart from these two have already signed new contracts with the club for the new season and they will be joined by Jeremy Thrush and Tom Marshall have been signed for the new season from New Zealand Super Rugby sides the Hurricanes and Chiefs respectively.
Meakes was a non-contracted player with Gloucester Rugby only a year ago with the club down on numbers ahead of the LV=Cup due to injuries and international call-ups. He showed enough promise for the club to give him an Academy contract and this renewal shows just how good he has been for the club when called upon.
Unlike Meakes, however, Murphy has been a part of the club for four years now having signed from London Irish. He has been a regular in the team but has been sidelined for some time due to injury. He is expected to make a return to action soon enough.
David Humphreys, the Director of Rugby at the club said that it is great news that the two have signed extensions with the club. He added that the two of them are highly respected in the squad and very hard working and have always come in and done a job as and when required by Gloucester Rugby.
Humphreys said that it is important to have depth in the squad as they look to make an assualt on trophies next season.