A young Old Albanian squad faced National One Bishops Stortford in the first of this season’s warm up matches and despite a 38-0 loss head coach James Buckland declared himself not unsatisfied with the performance.

Technically OAs will need to be more precise across the board but line-out and scrum went well and stout defence kept the National One side out for long periods.

And there was never any shirking of attacking opportunities for the young charges of skipper Jamie Townsend in this baptism of fire.

Buckland said: "At this stage of the season it's not about winning or losing for either club but to be given a chance to try out the things you've trained for, to test new players against strong opposition and to try new combinations which will help squad the development enormously."

Several players made their bow for the club, with a number new to this level of rugby, while there were also five U18s gaining more experience of adult rugby.