RFU Championship
Leeds change name to Yorkshire Carnegie
ESPN Staff
July 9, 2014
Jonah Holmes is tackled by Tyson Keats, London Welsh v Leeds Carnegie,  Championship semi-final, Kassam Stadium, May 18, 2014
Leeds lost in the play-off semi-final to London Welsh © Getty Images
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Leeds Carnegie have renamed themselves Yorkshire Carnegie from next season in a bid to widen the appeal of the club across the county.

"Hopefully, every rugby union fan in the county can become a supporter of the Yorkshire team," said chief executive Gary Hetherington. "Everyone has been very supportive, particularly the rugby union fraternity. They can see the wisdom, ambition and common sense approach that can build a team to go into the Premiership that carries the name of Yorkshire and pulls the rugby network in the county together.

"We will be pulling in the same direction and working for one common good and players can aspire to play for Yorkshire at the highest level.

Leeds Carnegie missed out on promotion after losing in the play-offs and they face a tougher job this season with Bristol, the play-off final losers, and newly relegated Worcester Warriors the favourites to contest promotion.

"The target has to be getting to the play-offs and then the second challenge is to get through those, which we haven't quite done over the last two years," said club chairman Sir Ian McGeechan. "We have an academy that has just got gold status which means we have a player development programme and we want to make sure we get most of the talent through. "It keeps developing talent in every region, which should be of benefit to every club."

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