‘We want to do well, but the number one thing is to stay in this league’ – Knight
Havant RFC have returned to the fourth tier of English club rugby after being crowned Regional 1 South Central champions last term.
It was a season to remember, with 18 wins and a draw in their 22 matches.
This season they will come up against the likes of Canterbury, Guernsey, Bury St Edmunds, Oxford Harlequins and Colchester in what head coach Will Knight expects will be a big step up.
Knight declared: "We're under absolutely no illusions about how challenging this league is. There are teams in the league that we know are spending significant amounts of money on their squads and looking to get promoted to National 1.
"It's a big step from the league we were in, but we all feel Regional 1 South Central was one of the strongest leagues at that level. Of course we want to do as well as we can, but the number one thing is to stay in the league.
"Our second objective is our second team has the capacity this year to get promoted. We could end up with the Dolphins playing regional rugby at the end of the season if they manage to get promoted.
"We've had 25, 30 players join the club - not all firstteam squad players, but quite a few are really pushing for first and second-team places.
"I think we had 10 debutants at the weekend across the first and second teams. Equally importantly, we've managed to hold on to all the players we had last season."
Havant’s seconds also made a winning start to 2024-25, hammering Bournemouth seconds 61-12 away, scoring nine tries in the process.
Outside-centre Tanie Naduva is likely to miss the first XV’S trip to Worthing tomorrow after picking up a knock, while fly-half Reuben Knight is facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines with a broken collarbone.