By Paul Smith 
Coventry Rugby have confirmed three further members of the 2023/24 squad will remain at the club for another 12 months.
Props Vilikese Nairau and Eliot Salt plus scrum-half Will Lane have all signed on the dotted line to be part of next season’s Championship campaign.
After joining Cov midway through the current season Nairau has quickly become a popular figure with the Butts Park Arena faithful.
The powerful Fiji U20’s representative who is able to play on both sides of the scrum has made a handful of appearances for his first English club.
Lane who has been at the BPA since 2022 and to date made 39 appearances will battle out the no.9 shirt with the returning Josh Barton and young prospect Fin Ogden.
The 24-year-old scrum-half said he has really benefitted from working with retirement-bound Will Chudley and now hopes to push on.
“I’ve learned so much from Will,” he said. “I’ve been very privileged to pick his brains about rugby stuff and also spend time with him off the field as he’s also a great human being.
“Going forward I hope to implement both my own take on the game and some of what he’s taught me and I’m buzzing to have re-signed for a third year.”
Quickly-developing tight-head prop Salt joined the blue-and-whites from Cardiff Met University and was fast-tracked into his new club’s no.3 shirt following autumn injuries to Ollie Andrews and Adam Nicol.
As a result he added 11 starts to the same number of appearances from the bench during a campaign that saw Cov clinch back-to-back top-three finishes.
Salt described re-signing for the blue-and-whites as a simple decision.
“I’ve really enjoyed my first season here at Cov,” he said. “Everyone has been so welcoming and we’ve had a pretty successful season so signing for another year was a bit of a no-brainer.
“Even though it was a bit of a baptism of fire early on and I’ve had to learn fast I’m really happy with the amount of game-time that I’ve had in my first season in the Championship.”
After acclimatising to life in England both on and off the rugby pitch over the last six months, head coach Rae believes Nairau can push on during next season, and he also has big hopes for Lane and Salt.
“Billy has done so well since arriving here,” he said. “It was all a big shock with him never having been out of Fiji so he was always going to take time to adapt and settle in but he’s done brilliantly.
“He’s got a huge amount of potential; with lots of hard work and time in our environment the sky is the limit for him.
“Wills had to be really patient behind Will Chudley waiting for his opportunity.
“He conducts himself really well everyday striving to get better and from when he first arrived his development has been really good.
“He’s hungry now to fight for that starting spot and show everyone how good he can be.
“Salty has done really well moving up from BUCS rugby which is a big step for a front row.
“He’s got all the ingredients to be a top tight-head prop and his and our job now is to make sure he works incredibly hard and pushes on again.”
More announcements will follow regarding the make-up of the 2024/25 squad.
Season memberships for 2024/25 are available via this link: https://www.coventryrugby.co.uk/membership/
