IVYBRIDGE’S director of rugby Paul Setter will be part of Devon RFU’s coaching set-up for this year’s County Championship.

Devon, who reached six finals between 2000 and 2008, are hoping to return to the top tier of county rugby after suffering relegation in 2010.

Since then they have not won match in the County Championship. However, they are hoping to change that this season and all Devon’s leading clubs have agreed to back their 2016 campaign.

National One side Plymouth Albion have said they will release players to feature, while National Three clubs Ivybridge, Exmouth, Barnstaple, Brixham and Newton Abbot are all fully backing the county.

The level five clubs will all be represented on the coaching staff – Setter (Ivybridge), Jon Hill (Exmouth), Steve Perry (Barnstaple), Dan Parkes (Brixham) and Colin Stewart (Newton Abbot).

Parkes, Stewart and Perry are all former Albion players.

Parkes, a County Championship winner as a player with Devon while at Albion, said: “I am really looking forward to working with the other coaches and putting out the best team Devon can, with the amount of senior players we have at level five and at Albion we should be able to put out a strong side.

“It won’t be a one-year fix. It needs to be for a couple of seasons to get the players to buy into it and get Devon back to a Twickenham final.

“Having had many good years for Devon myself I realise how important it is for guys playing at our level to have a chance to play at rugby HQ as there is no longer a cup this is the only route they have.”

Devon will have their first run out on Wednesday, April 13 when they take on the Royal Navy at Albion’s Brickfields ground.

They will then travel to St Austell on April 26 to take on Cornwall in the Tamar Cup.

They open their promotion bid with a home game against Somerset at Teignmouth before travelling away to North Midland and then Kent the following weeks.