IT has been a summer of change for Supermarine and new club chairman and first team coach Nigel Hire is ready to start afresh.

Sean Millwaters stepped down at the end of last season, along with the chairman, which has left a restructure to take place in the summer months at South Marston.

Hire and Gavin Russ have taken over the running of the first team, with former ladies head coach Jamie Barrett linking up with Nick Moulden to take the seconds.

However, both sides will be training together as Supermarine look forward to their second season in Dorset & Wilts One North.

“We’ve been trying to get players in early for pre-season training and try to get some structure into our all-over game play,” said Hire, who would also like to see the second team promoted.

“It is about building up the player base and making sure we have enough numbers available who are all training and understanding what we are trying to do.

“We’ve kept the majority of the personnel who were there last season and have had four players come up from the Colts and had about five new players join the club.

“Part of our proposal when we arrived was to put in a five-year training plan in place so we are committed for the immediate future.

“We’re looking to stabilise where we are and improve the player base.

“It would be nice if the first team finished towards the top end of the league but it is a big step up to the next division so we need to make sure we are in a position to be able to compete.”

Supermarine start this season at home to Chippenham 2nd and for Hire, the right performance will take precedent over any result.

“We know they are going to be competitive and you never quite know at the start of the season how other clubs are going to be and what their personnel is going to be like,”

“What we will be look for is a good performance, yes we want to win but we also want to make sure we are playing in the right way.

“We know Chippenham are always competitive and it won’t be an easy game.”

Meanwhile, Mark Lea’s Swindon College Old Boys face a blank weekend in Berks/Bucks & Oxon Premier, following their relegation from Southern Counties North, after Saturday’s opponents, Alchester, pulled out of the league at the eleventh hour.

“We have had a couple of good pre-seasons, playing Supermarine and Chipping Sodbury and everything has been going well,” said director of rugby Martin Lloyd.

“We’ve made some good signings during the summer and we were really looking forward to the game, only to find out they have pulled out of the league with two days to go.”