Hull Ionians RFC away to kick off the new campaign and a visit to their Brantingham Park HQ, a relatively short trek down the A1/M62, compared to usual National League One distance standards.

Like DMPRFC, Saturday’s hosts have been busy during the off season, both on the player recruitment front and in their build up with pre-season friendlies, with varying degrees of success.

A game at altitude at the Grassington Park HQ of Wharfedale RFC was the first of Hull Ionians 2 pre-season games, winning the contest (5 – 26) and scoring four tries in the process, including a penalty try from a scrum. The other tries were scored by centre Lewis Minikin (2) and full back Steve Slingsby, with Greg Lound weighing in with 6 points from the boot. New recruits of note who showed well were ex-Sandal RFC forward Tom Cotterill and ex-Leicester Tigers academy forward Zak Poole.

At the weekend, Hull Ionians hosted Championship outfit Rotherham Titans, with whom they are forging closer links and like DMPRFC with trip to the Castle Park HQ of Doncaster Knights RFC, the final result perhaps shows the gap between the leagues. Having said that, it is a gamble, but a commendable one given that these are the sides you aspire sometime in the future to want to be playing week in week out.

Needless to say, Ionians lost the game (5 – 55), but like the similar score conceded by DMPRFC at Castle Park, a lot was probably gleaned from the players by the respective coaches from a temperament and performance in adversity perspective, as opposed to playing down a league or two lower, which admittedly gives a feel good factor if a win. This might give a false impression of progress, as the harsh reality for those teams who undertook that tactic is that the actual league games to follow will be arguably much, much harder.

Last season, Hull Ionians fluttered with a relegation issue, but showed their resolve with ultimately a 12th place finish, winning 9 of their 30 games.

Historical encounters between both clubs have usually been close affairs, never more highlighted than last season, where despite a comfortable home win for DMPRFC (43 – 11) in late November 2015, by the return fixture back at Brantingham Park in March this year, it took a last minute penalty from Warren SEALS to overcome them (20 – 22).

With some key recruitments, Hull Ionians RFC will be no different in this first league game of the new season and DMPRFC will need to be at their best.

A lot of off season activity has seen several of last season’s squad move onto pastures new, with new recruits added to the fold in an effort to improve from DMPRFC’s 6th place standing in National League One.

The 3 pre-season games have been interesting comparisons, losing the 2 most recent against Ayr (22 - 25) and Doncaster Knights RFC (64 – 0) and winning the opener away at Hawick RFC (14 - 33).

In the opening pre-season fixture at Hawick RFC, tries from Jamie BARNARD, Brandon STAPLES (Leeds Carnegie RFC), Caolan RYAN (ex-Coventry RFC) and Ben FRANKLAND, together with 2 RYAN conversions and another from Sam ALLEN (Leeds Carnegie) were enough to see off a tough tackling Borders side.

In the only home game of the three, Ayr RFC provided a sterner test. Tries from Brandon STAPLES, Joe CRAGGS and Pete HOMAN, with 6 further points from successful kicks from Caolan RYAN and Tom PUTT (ex-Plymouth Albion RFC) all seemed to be enough to square up a pretty even game, until the last kick.

The last game at Doncaster Knights RFC being the anticipated test and it didn’t fail to meet with expectations.

A more detailed list of the new recruits will follow in due course, as negotiations continue to add to the squad, with other signings still in the pipeline.

Important for everyone in this league to start with a win, but as ever, that must be earned, as every team in this league are capable on their day of beating anyone else.

Whatever the squad selected for the day by coaches John NEWTON and Danny BROWN, the players are under no illusions from the outset, that at this level, 100% and more is required on the field week in week out.