BY FORCING both his seasoned charges and wet-behind-the-ears newbies to think on their feet, head coach Colin Branagh believes that he has conjured up the perfect storm.

Branagh’s Swindon Storm, who play in the SFC 2 West Conference in Division Two of the BAFA National League, begin their 2016 campaign by taking on the Dorchester-based Jurrasic Coast Raptors at Supermarine rugby club on Sunday (kick-off 2.30pm).

Experienced campaigner Branagh, who has been involved in American football for over 30 years, took over as Storm boss from Steve Bennett, who is now chairman, in the off-season and has been busy moulding his team for the upcoming term, which includes both players who have been around the block before and ones new to the sport.

But with the Storm’s season-opener on the horizon, their head coach couldn’t be more satisfied with how his team’s preparations have played out ahead of the Raptors’ visit.

“My philosophy has always been to try and keep things interesting for players,” said Branagh, who most recently held coaching roles with the Worcestershire Black Knights and University of Worcester Royals before taking over the Storm.

“Players make a lot of sacrifices over the summer and at the end of the day, it is an amateur sport, even though we run things as professionally as most college teams.

“We’ve got players that have played a lot before and some that haven’t, but I’ve brought in completely new playbooks – offensively and defensively – and that’s meant that it’s been new for everybody, which I think is a good thing.

“We’ve had two really good controlled scrimmages. We took the guys to South Wales to play against South Wales Warriors, who are from the Premier League.

“They’re a team from two leagues above and the guys acquitted themselves really well against them.

“We then played against Berkshire Renegades, and they did even better against them – things couldn’t have gone better.”

Branagh added: “I’m quietly confident about the game on Sunday but I haven’t told the players that.

“For some of them, it’s going to be their first game in full uniform and I’m sure that they’ll have a lot of people coming to watch.”

In 2015, the Storm finished fourth in the five-team SFC 2 West, finishing their season with a record of 3-5.