GRAHAM DAWE is hoping there will be plenty of emotion from both his Plymouth Albion team and the club’s supporters this season.
Albion kick-off their National One campaign on Saturday when they entertain Richmond at Brickfields (3pm).
The city club are looking to rebuild after winning just three league games last term, suffering relegation from the Championship and nearly going out of business.
Dawe has brought in plenty of young West Country talent to his team and he is hoping rugby fans in the region will get behind the side, starting on Saturday against Richmond.
“I would like to think we’ll get a decent crowd,” said Dawe. “People will be back off holiday and hopefully a few Plymothians will come out and see what we can do.
“It (rugby) is still in the blood of Plymouth residents and hopefully not only the team but supporters will display some emotion.”
Albion go into this weekend’s season-opener on the back of pre-season games against Jersey, Weston-super-Mare, Bedford and Newton Abbot.
Dawe’s side beat lower league Weston-super-Mare and Newton Abbot but lost to Championship sides Jersey and Bedford.
“The guys put together some reasonable performances against Jersey, Bedford, Weston-super-Mare and Newton Abbot, but we’ve not been able to field our strongest side every week,” said Dawe.
“But hopefully this week we can field our strongest possible side.
“I just hope we play with a tempo that we can cope with as a group, that we play adventurous rugby alongside controlled and disciplined rugby and that it ends up being effective rugby.”