TWO 18-year-old rugby players from Trafford have signed full-time contracts to join the Sale Sharks senior academy set-up.

England Under-18s player Charlie Wardle, from Bowdon, and Altrincham back-row Will Riley

Fly-half Wardle attends Altrincham Grammar School and plays for Bowdon RUFC, while Altrincham Kersal’s Riley goes to Kirkham Grammar School and they join nine others from the North West joining the set-up.

Sharks academy manager, Fergus Mulchrone, said: “We’ve had so much talent to select from this year and this is the club’s biggest academy intake ever.

“All the schools and junior rugby clubs that are affiliated with these boys have put a lot of work into them. We have contact time with these boys once, maybe twice a week throughout the year but the main body of the work is done at schools and clubs.

“They are a product of those environments that they’ve come through, not just ours, so huge recognition to all of them because they’ve done a fantastic job.”