OPMs are back in training and are hoping to build on an encouraging debut season in Counties Two Devon.

The Old Boys were back at King George V Playing Fields last week as they prepare for the 2024-25 campaign, which will see then start with three consecutive Plymouth derby games.

Former Albion forward Andy Williams is staying as the club’s head coach after guiding then to eighth in their first season back at level eight last term after winning promotion the previous season, but there has been changes to his backroom staff.

Tim Smale and Tony Heard have stepped down, but James Digweed and Geoff Flowers have joined the coaching team.

“Tim Smale and Tony Heard stepped down due to work and family commitments,” said Williams. “We do owe them a huge sense of gratitude for what they did for the club and the hours they put in. We are very grateful, and they really did try to shape us and helped us get promotion and then finish a highly-creditable eighth.”

He added: “James Digweed, who has been here as a player for the last couple of seasons, but he comes with a wealth of coaching experience. James is going to take over the forwards and get them a bit more drilled so I can focus on more the team stuff and the backs.

“Geoff Flowers who has been our sports therapist for the last couple of seasons and he also brings a wealth of experience. He played a lot himself and knows a lot about strength and conditioning.

“We identified a couple of things in our game from last year where we do need to step up and improve, and strength and conditioning was one of them.

“The boys will be working reasonably hard over the summer and we really want to push the strength and conditioning from the start so that we do hit the ground running.

“When we reflected on last year, we felt that with fitness we didn’t really make the gains we wanted to and particularly in the last couple of games of the season we let ourselves down a little bit fitness wise.

“It sounds a bit daft as we had played rugby all season so we were hardened to the knocks and the bumps, but when the weather started getting nicer and teams started throwing the ball around we would be in it for 65 minutes but then we would drop off, which wasn’t ideal.

“There were a lot of lessons learned last season. We were really happy with the way it went overall, but we could have won a few more games.

“This year we just want to build. We have got a youngish side and a strong pack of forwards and we just want to run the ball and enjoy it and see what happens.”

The Old Boys do expect to keep most of their squad, including influential backs Fred and Matt Smale.

“We have managed to keep the vast majority of our first team squad from last year,” said Williams.

“There were a few boys that we knew at the end of last year were either moving from the area, stopping playing or had family commitments and it was a nice time to say goodbye.

“But we are looking forward to getting a few new faces in. We have had a few people who have been in contact saying they fancy coming down and having a go as they have heard it’s a good club to come to, so we’ll see what happens.

“We also have a strong youth team and there are some youngsters who are going to come back to us.”

OPMs will kick-off their season with an away game against city rivals Plymouth Argaum on September 7, before hosting Devonport Services II and then visiting newly-promoted Tamar Saracens.

“There are a lot of Plymouth-based teams in the league,” said Williams.

“Plymouth has always been a really competitive city when it comes to rugby and you can test yourself at any level from Albion right down to Counties Three and the Merit Table.

“We are all going to be scrapping for the same kinds of players, but we are just trying to focus on what we can do.

“How we perform at home will be crucial and I’m sure Dean (Avery at Argaum) and Mike (Lewis at Tamar Saracens) will think the same.”

OPMs are set to start their preparations in earnest with a 10s tournament on August 15 at Tamar Saracens before playing a first and second team pre-season fixture away at Saltash on August 24 and then having a fixture with Devonport Services’ seconds and thirds on August 31.