London Scottish director of rugby Brett Taylor has revelaed former Ealing winger David Howells will be the most eye-catching of his summer recruitment drive.

Howells touched down 35 times last season to become the leading try-scorer in the country and will join Charlie Broughton, Neale, Rory Damant in a points laiden back line.

The Exiles enlisted a host of high-profile names to secure the National Division Three South title, but have been forced to tighten their belts this time around, despite the departure of hooker Ben Gotting and prop Lorne Ward to London Welsh.

Taylor expects to retain the majority of his star names in Paul Volley, Mark Soden, Simon Amor, James Brown and iain Fullarton, and will run the rule of 25 potential new recruits during the pre-season schedule.

But there is no doubt in his mind who his star signing will be when Scottish kick-off the coming National Division One campaign.

“I’ve got about 25 CVs to look through and then look at during training. A few of those will be pushing for first team places, but we will have to see,” he said.

“David is definitely on board. He has out and out pace. We crafted a lot of tries for our back three last season but he scored 60 per cent of his tries from counter attacks, which is going to add another dimension to our play.

“Our recruitment last year will stand us in good stead for this season. Those players are still quality players and good enough for the level above.

“There is a stupid amount of movement between rugby clubs at the moment, but we want continuity. We are then one step ahead when it comes to working on our patterns of play.”

The lure of full-time rugby saw Ward and Gotting join the Dragons earlier this summer, but Taylor doesn’t want his club to be seen as a stepping stone for players to move on to the professional ranks.

“We are ambitious and want to establish ourselves at that level in two or three years time,” he added.

“We’ve spent a year putting our structures in place to do that and while it is good that our playes are attractive to other clubs higher up the ladder, we’d rather they stay with us.

“That said we do not begrudge Lorne or Ben the opportunities they have. While the fire to play professionally still burns, I understand they have to take that chance.”