Hull Kingston Rovers have secured the signing of Scotland international Ben Kavanagh on a two-year deal.
As first revealed by TotalRL earlier this week, the 28-year-old has become the 11th former Bradford player to join another club by joining the Robins ahead of their return to the Championship.
Kavanagh had attracted interest from other Championship clubs in Swinton and Halifax but eventually made the move to join Tim Sheens’ side.
His arrival helps Rovers fill the gap left by Dane Tilse, who decided to retire midway through pre-season.
Kavanagh made over 200 Super League appearances during spells with Widnes and Wigan and played in the 2013 World Cup with Scotland.
“Hull KR are still a massive club and they’re striving to get straight back into Super League, as am I,” he said.
“I’ve got aspirations to get back up there again after a year in the Championship last season and I want to achieve that with Rovers. Tim’s put together a really good squad with some quality players so I think we should be aiming to get that top spot and then kick on from there to hopefully get promotion in the Qualifiers.
“I’ve been around the game for a bit and I’m hoping I can bring that experience to the team. Nick Scruton is over there so hopefully I can work well with him again and there’s some good young kids too in Mitch Clark who I played with at Bradford and Kieran Moran who was in the Scotland squad with me. There’s Robbie Mulhern as well so we’ve got a good group up front and hopefully we can have a big impact this year.
“I’ve got a bit of security now and I can just get my head down and concentrate on playing some good rugby. I know quite a few of the lads already so that should help with fitting in and the Tenerife camp next week has come at a good time for me. We’ll be spending a lot of time together and I’ll get to know everybody and all the calls, so I’m looking forward to it.”
Head coach Tim Sheens added: “We’ve been searching for another prop since Dane Tilse departed and Ben will fit into the squad really well.
“He adds to the strength we have in the forwards and he has the advantage of playing with a number of our players already. They’ve all had good things to say about him and he adds experience to what is a relatively young squad, including international experience which is a bonus.
“Ben was part of the Scotland squad which had a really successful Four Nations at the end of last year and he’s excited about joining the club, so we’re looking forward to having him on board.”