We have drawn a line under last year's achievements, says Instonians coach Paul Pritchard ahead of season's opener against Banbridge
Last season Instonians won Ulster Premiership 2 to earn promotion and Paul Pritchard’s team beat Queen’s in the final to lift the Senior Cup for the first time in 25 years.
However, the Shaw’s Bridge club start the new campaign with a trip to Banbridge in Division 1 Group B of the Senior League and coach Paul Prichard has drawn a line under last year’s achievements.
“Last season is done and we don’t need to look back at it now. We are very proud of what we done but we just have got to look forward,” he stated.
“The big thing for us over the last few years is we are not trying to find a place to settle, we don’t want to put a ceiling on what we can do and we certainly just want to keep going.
“I think if you are happy to be somewhere you’ll stay there. We just want to keep improving as a group and keep pushing ourselves as much as we can.”
It has been 37 years since Instonians tasted glory in the Ulster League and whilst wanting to build momentum, Pritchard said he will also test his squad depth.
“We are not overly stressed about that now as the All Ireland League is obviously the main aim for all the clubs but to do that we need to be playing some good rugby and that is our focus,” he added.
“We are going away to Banbridge and they are in our AIL Division this season and it will be a real test as we know that they have good quality.
“For us it is just about trying to sharpen our weapons and just improve over these next three games and just try to hit the ground running for when we have Buccaneers away.
“It is difficult and it is something that we address as a group as last season we had two games pulled on us as the opposition couldn’t field a front row so we only had one Ulster league game going into the AIL which didn’t leave much opportunity for some guys.
“When you are winning and playing well it is hard to make those changes and get the opportunity.
“We feel with these next three games there is going to be opportunity for some of the lads to show what they can do and guys that maybe have a chip on their shoulder or are a bit annoyed about not getting as much of a look in last year as maybe they deserved.
“We are happy enough with recruitment, we have great depth in our squad and we have loads of young lads coming in. We are really happy to see several school kids come in and join us this year.
“We want those to guys to push. I don’t think at this stage we want to bring in players from everywhere like some clubs do as we’re happy with what we are getting in from the school and what we have currently.”
In the other game in the Group B Armagh host Rainey.
Ballynahinch start the defence of their title with a Group A clash away at Dungannon.
Clayton Milligan, Ronan McCusker, Bradley Luney and Conor Rankin all start.
Queen’s have had to concede their game to Malone.
With nine props and three hookers unavailable due to representative engagements and injury, the students couldn’t field a front row.
In Division 2 Belfast Harlequins host Clogher Valley while Ballymena travel to Omagh.