RUGBY: Westcliff head coach Jimmy Rea is setting his sights high this season.

Westcliff kick off their Regional Two Anglia campaign away at Wanstead this weekend.

And Rea wants it to be the start of a memorable season for his side.

“The hopes are to bounce straight up,” said Rea.

“I’ve set the bar early in what I wanted from the squad.

“Some have reached it, many are only just short of it.

“But to be able to do what we haven’t done before the players have to be willing to put more work in than they have before especially away from the club.”

Westcliff have suffered back to back relegation ahead of the forthcoming campaign.

But Rea has been boosted by how well pre-season training has gone.

“We are very happy at how pre-season has gone,” said Rea.

“We have worked hard on our fitness, skills and overall understanding of how we want to play this season.

“Pre season games are an exciting time, highlighting players that have worked hard in the off season and those that have just got by.”

Westcliff will now look to impress this weekend and have made changes to personnel since the end of the previous campaign.

“The aim was to recruit sensibly by drawing in the right characters in a few key positions while also retaining the core squad,” said Rea.

“There have been a couple of goings but more comings and more still yet to come.

“Two arrived today and one in a month or so but the nice thing is we also have senior players that are still coming back from injuries sustained last season in Jack Hogarth and Greg Bannister who haven’t played during pre-season.”

But Rea is still looking to start strongly on Saturday.

“I’m expecting the boys to put in a clinical performance, delivering on the standards we have set during pre-season as well as the same defensive intensity shown against North Walsham,” said Rea.

“The best thing about pre-season is we have been able to build on the foundations that were put in place last season with a strong result against Thurrock and a last minute draw with North Walsham.

“By playing multiple combinations, and trialling different tactics, we showed we have built a strong squad that can adapt within a game.

“We were tested a lot by Walsham defensively and found strength in areas we hadn’t done much detail on but the most exciting thing is the best is yet to come.”