A NEW era for Bolton Rugby Club begins this weekend, and incoming captain Rhys Pritchard is confident it can be a fruitful season at Avenue Street.

Bolton have a new skipper and vice-captains as well as a new coaching team and after a summer of sweat and tears they are ready to get their campaign under way.

Pritchard, who has been at the club since the age of 14, has taken over the captaincy from Chris Cockton and after Nick Holmes stepped down as head coach, Dave Crouch is now the man in charge off the field.

Completing the changes, Crouch has the backing of a new fitness coach, his son Mike, and attacking coach, former Sale RUFC player Gareth Stocks.

The North Lancs and Cumbria season gets under way this Saturday and, ahead of welcoming old foes Hawcoat Park for the opening fixture Pritchard – now in his 10th year at the club – is buoyed by what he has seen from the Cherry and Whites during summer.

He is not about to pretend it has all been enjoyable, though.

"We have had decent numbers down at training and we have a clear game plan for this season," he said. "Dave is bringing fresh ideas in and we are keen to put them into place.

"Our fitness is key to executing our plans, our aim is to be the fittest team in this league.

"That's where Mike Crouch comes in, he has really put us through it this summer. It wasn't great when we were hard at work but we feel better for having got through it.

"We have been put through it, but the worst one was a very tough run up Rivington Pike in horrendous downpours – although I was quite glad of the rain and so were a few others I think, it meant no one could see each others' tears!"

Character-building treks behind them, the new-look Bolton will still have the services of outgoing captain Chris Cockton to call upon, and his successor will be looking to tap into his knowledge as well as enjoying watching him excel in the forwards now that he is 'back in the ranks'.

Pritchard, who plays on the wing, at centre or full-back, is confident taking on the captaincy will not adversely affect his own game, having led the side in warm-up action.

The Cherry and Whites were defeated 25-10 in a non-competitive friendly at Old Crossleyans. However, as it was played in four separate quarters with players constantly switching positions, Bolton will not be too concerned with the result, especially as the exercise revealed more than victories in pre-season tend to.

"We learned a lot in that game," added Pritchard. "I think the biggest thing to come out of it was that we have to work on our ball retention and improve that. If you don't have the ball, or a decent share of it, it is difficult to play good rugby.

"After Chris gave up the captaincy they asked me if I'd take over – I had to think about it but I said I would, I don't think it will change anything about my game, I want to lead the team by example and let actions speak louder than words. I have two good vice-captains in Louis Critchlow and Ashley Cooper, and Chris is still in the team so he will be on hand to give decent advice and I'm sure I'll turn to him for help at times.

"We start at home against Hawcoat Park, a team we know well. We seem to come up against them a lot and as far as I remember there has never been an away win in fixtures between the two.

"We can't take it easy just because we are at home though, we won't go into the game with that mindset because it will be far from easy. While we're happy to be starting at home, we know we are in for tough day.

"They are very good up front but we have got a very decent pack ourselves so it should be a good game."

Kick-off on Saturday is at 3pm.