Simon Green-Price acknowledges Lucs will have to strengthen the squad

Luctonians are confident they will be fully prepared for the challenge of National League Two North rugby.

The club's administrator Simon Green-Price says everything at Mortimer Park has been geared towards preparing for the tougher tests ahead.

"The real work started as soon as last season finished especially with this promotion," he said.

"It was gleaned at the death and so there has been an awful lot of work going on down here behind the scenes."

The Kingsland-based club won its place in National Two North after a dramatic play-off win at Stockport and then had to wait until the Rugby Football Union heard a number of appeals before the promotion was confirmed.

We are still an amateur club and we will remain so but we have got to think in professional terms Simon Green-Price

Luctonians recently announced the appointment of the former Birmingham Solihull player Alex Davidson as their new director of rugby.

Simon Green-Price says they have recognised they need far greater strength in depth if they are to compete successfully at the higher level.

"We need to have someone looking after the length and breadth of our rugby delivery at senior and colts level," he told BBC Hereford and Worcester.

"What tends to happen if you have a head coach who only looks after the first team is when trouble hits and you lose three or four games you get entrenched with the first team and forget about the rest.

"We cannot afford to get first team-centric next year and that will be Alex's role," he added.

This will be the north Herefordshire club's first season at National Two level and this has led to a complete overhaul of activities both on and off the field.

In addition to the need to generate more income some players have been attending fitness and conditioning sessions four times per week throughout the summer months.

Simon Green-Price says they are acutely aware of the need to be fully prepared but they are determined this will not be at the expense of the ethos that has led to the club's recent successes.

"The level we are going to now is classed as being a semi-pro or pro level and we have to have that mentality," he said.

"We are still an amateur club and we will remain so but we have got to think in professional terms.

"The 'p' in professional gets slightly bigger especially in the way that we manage ourselves."

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