Elthamians have been handed a tough start to the 2015/16 National Two South campaign with three of their opening four matches against sides who finished in the top five last season.
They kick off the season on September 5th with a long trip to Somerset to take on Taunton Titans, who completed the double over the Old Boys on their way to a third place finish last season.
A week later, OEs are on the road again when they travel to Worthing, who recorded an emphatic 38-15, when the two sides met on the last day of the season.
Their first home game is on September 19th against Clifton, which will be played at Eltham College to act as a showpiece for the College’s Open Day, followed a week later by the visit of old rivals Dorking on September 26th.
“I thought last year’s first four games were tough,” said Elthamians’ Director of Rugby Gavin Lach, “but these are even tougher! Not only do we play three of last year’s top five, we’ve also got Clifton who have recruited well and will be a very difficult proposition this season.
“In many respects, though, it’s a good time to play these sides while they are still finding their feet at the start of the season.”
Lach believes Elthamians were under-estimated going into last year’s campaign as newcomers to National Two South, but he maintains no-one will make the same mistake this time round. “We were very under-valued last year when we kicked off against Worthing who came down from National One while we came up from National Three,” he said. “They’d never heard of Old Elthamians - they probably had to look it up on a map! But no-one will make the same mistakes this year with us or the newly promoted teams Barnes, Bury St Edmonds and Redingensians.”