Swaffham start their pre-season training at their North Pickenham Road ground on Tuesday, July 14 from 7.30pm and are looking forward to a successful season in Eastern Counties Division One.

New chairman Adam Lamb has made it clear he wants the enjoyment of the game to shine through and hopefully with a more relaxed atmosphere, the obvious talents of the existing players will flourish.

Ryan Gladman continues in his role as coach, and with Daniel Bird taking on the role as first XV skipper for the first time, the club is returning to its ethos of using the experience and knowledge from within its ranks.

Training will continue on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the first half of the season and, with a better start than last season, the club can justifiably hope for a finish in the top half of the division.

New players are expected to push their way through into the squad, as the younger Colts move up from the youth section, and some of the second team players begin to show their true potential.

The second XV will have a hard task ahead of them, having gained promotion into Eastern Counties Division Three.

They will now take on the likes of Watton, Lakenham Hewett and Norwich Union first teams, as well as North Walsham second XV whose first team play in London Division One.

The Pedlars showed good spirit last season to win their division with a match in hand, but they will need to learn to manage the game situations better.

Some old faces returning to the fray could be just what's required. As usual though, new faces will always be welcomed, and anyone considering playing for the club can turn up on training nights or get details from www.pitchero.com/clubs/swaffham or the club's Facebook page.

As usual the mini and junior sections are continuing to provide rugby for all age groups from under six upwards on Sunday mornings. Des Lloyd, Lorraine Whitehead and Sarah Colwell have a dedicated group of coaches and helpers regularly turning out to make Sunday mornings enjoyable yet competitive and this is reflected in some of last season's excellent results against the bigger clubs at all age groups.

The annual Tigers course, where youngsters from seven upwards can get a week's coaching with some of the big names from Leicester coming to Swaffham, begins on July 27 and is once again proving very popular.