PRIOR to the 2024/25 rugby season commencing, Totnes RFC 1st XV manager Alan Sheppard wrote that they were “Really looking forward to the season having had a number of weeks of quality pre-season training overseen by new head coach Alex Brown.

His experience and knowledge gained from playing at a higher level has been greatly appreciated by the growing Totnes squad.

Alongside Martin Brown (no relation), the new forwards coach, who has played National League Level, the two Browns have brought a much greater intensity and focus at training and we are all excited at what this could give us for the coming season.

Alan said that they “Have spent the last two years surviving as a men’s team and are really looking forward to a year looking towards the top of the league with a good squad rather than scraping around for a team each week.”

Club captain Thomas Edmonds added to this: “Post-Covid Rugby has been a constant struggle to just get 15 lads at training let alone on the pitch, but with coaching team shake-up of Alex and Martin, it’s looking very good.

“Welcoming plenty of old and new faces to the village the squad is full of confidence, ability and a fire we’ve not seen for a while.

“Finally with numbers at a high and spirits rising we’ll have a chance of match day rotation within the squad to look forward to.”

With these changes in place, Totnes were able to hold their own for large parts of the opening fixture, a 31-10 defeat to a strong Torquay side, showing signs of things to come.