Knights ready for war

The 31 year-old No 8 was named as the new club captain following the departure of Jason Forster.

Wilson is no stranger to the role and was both the Otley andYorkshire captain when being snapped up by the ambitious Knights last summer.

Despite an injury-hit season, Wilson has no regrets about joining the club.

"Obviously the facilities here are outstanding," he told The Star. "But it just wasn't that which attracted me, it was the infrastructure and the club's ambitions.

"It was a great move for me and it was just unfortunate that thing didn't go as well as I had hoped due to injuries.

"With so many new players joining the club it took us time to gel - though we were still picking up some good results.

"But I was pleased with how things were going and I was starting to play well when I tore my ankle ligament.

"While I was on crutches I aggravated a back problem I had been suffering with on and off for quite a while and I ended up having an operation on a disc in my lower back.

"It is fine now. I continued to work on my rehab during May and June and was able to join in with the rest of the squad when they started pre-season training.

"Despite the fact that the club have as yet being able to bring in a replacement for director of rugby Clive Griffiths, whose planning and attention to detail will be missed, pre-season has gone very well.

"Justin Bishop, who was brought in as backs' coach, has done a good job and training has been very varied.

"As well as training here and the Dome, we've been to Leeds, Cusworth Park and the Lake District.

"We are all looking forward to Sunday's pre-season friendly at Newcastle and the following weekend at Leeds.

"The results in both games are not important. It is just a case of seeing how things that we have worked on in training stand up in a match situation and generally getting an idea of where we are in terms of fitness."

Knights, who finished third last season, kick-off their third League One campaign at Coventry on September 1.

"Coventry have gone full time and a lot of other clubs have strengthened, so it is going to be a tough league," said Wilson.

"We have also lost that element of surprise this year after what we achieved last season. People now know what we are about and know they'll be in for a hard game when they play us."