By Bryn Palmer

Richards is bullish about his side's chances of success

Harlequins rugby director Dean Richards believes his side can buck the trend of promoted clubs and challenge the elite on their return to the Premiership.

"Every other side that has come up has finished in the bottom two apart from Newcastle (in 1997/98), who bought their way to success," Richards said.

"But we have a reasonable side, nothing to lose and we will give it a real go.

"I don't want to be at the bottom and finish 11th or 12th. Hopefully we will be competitive right at the top."

A relegation struggle would certainly be a novelty for the former England number eight, who established Leicester as England's premier club with four consecutive league titles and two Heineken Cups from 1999-2002.

We are looking to compete in every competition, simple as that Dean Richards

But 20 months after the last of those triumphs, he was unceremoniously axed by the club where he spent 23 years as a player and coach.

After a season coaching Grenoble in France, Richards returned to England last May to the unfamiliar surrounds of National League One, and the task of ensuring Quins' absence from the top flight was a brief one.

"There was a lot of doom and gloom when I arrived and Division One was not the nicest of places to be, but we made the best of it and acquitted ourselves very well," he said of a campaign that yielded just one defeat.

"The goal was to get back up and do something when we are back up."

Signing Abbott was a major coup

To that end, Richards has recruited 11 players - a mixture of international class in England centre Stuart Abbott and South African-born Welshman Hal Luscombe, emerging talent from League One and a proven Premiership performer in former Wasps flanker Paul Volley.

"It is a long season and there are certain things like injuries and international call-ups which affect things," Richards noted.

"But we are quite bullish about our strength-in-depth and believe the youngsters are capable of playing at this level. If we get a couple of injuries, we shouldn't worry about it."

Richards believes his old club Leicester and champions Sale start favourites for the title, and that Gloucester will be a force, but otherwise regards the league as "pretty open".

After an opening date with London Irish at Twickenham on 2 September, Gloucester will be Quins' first opponents at the Stoop - fixtures Richards regards as "probably our two most important games of the season".

This going to be one of the hardest seasons I have ever had Quins captain Paul Volley

But unlike the likes of Worcester and Bristol, who have made no bones about prioritising Premiership survival above all else, Richards insists Quins will not be treating the European Challenge Cup and EDF Energy (Anglo-Welsh) Cup as of secondary importance.

"We are looking to compete in every competition, simple as that; there is no reason why we shouldn't," he added. "We have the strength-in-depth and quality of youngsters.

"I honestly believe we are capable of competing in every competition. I am quite looking forward to it."

He is not the only one. Volley, with three English titles and a Heineken Cup victory with Wasps to his name, admits he jumped at the chance of returning to the Premiership after two years with French side Castres.

"We all know it will be a dogfight, and this is going to be one of the hardest seasons I have ever had," he said. "But that is what we signed up for."