Hill relishing first full season at Albion (From Bridgwater Mercury)

Hill relishing first full season at Albion

11:17am Friday 25th June 2010 in

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Bridgwater and Albion head coach Nick Hill is relishing the prospect of his first full season in charge at the College Way club, who this season will compete in National League Three (South West).

Hill had a difficult time of it last season after taking over the reins following the departure of former incumbent Mike Tewkesbury by mutual agreement.Hill also had to cope with the exodus of a number of the sides senior players, but this hasn’t dampened his enthusiasm for the task that lays ahead of him.

Bridgwater may well have been relegated from National Two last season, but the departure of many of the teams senior members gave Hill the opportunity to blood a number of the younger players at the Club at senior level.

Hill was also able to assemble a hard core of squad members dedicated to the ‘Bridgy’ cause, virtually all of who will be staying with the Club this term, under the leadership of local boy Steve Hunt who will stay as skipper.

Hill said: “We are still not in the financial position to go out and buy which means that we will have to go about things in the old fashioned way and that is by developing our own players.”

He went on: “We want to get people playing at Bridgwater who want to be there for the right reasons. We have got the nucleus of a good squad already and will be looking to recruit some more of the best local youngsters through our links with local colleges.”

With this in mind Hill has forged close ties with both Bridgwater and Yeovil College and also Richard Huish College in Taunton where Chris Heal, who is one of the assistant coaches at Bridgy is head of the Rugby Academy.

In addition to Heal, the head coach will also be assisted this season by Kevin Innalls and Owen Salmon, as he was for part of last season, two more individuals who are dedicated to the Bridgwater cause.

Bridgwater and Albion will re-instate their Development XV which was disbanded last year and who will play in a league set up this time round.

“The Development XV will be a blend of youth and experience and will be coached by Geoff Sloman and Lindsay Carver, so its an exciting time for the club seeing the youngsters, many of who we have brought through the club, stepping up to play senior rugby.

“Next season is going to be an exciting challenge for us and we will be playing against the likes of Weston-super-Mare, Cleve and Barnstaple. We know it wont be easy because it’s a tough division but we are all looking forward to it and getting ready to working hard and hopefully being successful in the 2010-11 season.”

A number of pre-season friendlies have been arranged with the first team playing Brixham at home on Saturday August 21st followed by Taunton away on Friday August 27th.

The players all report back for pre-season training on Tuesday July 6th, but before then if there are any local players who are interested in joining the Bridgy ranks then they can contact the head coach on 07774000643.