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Paul Pritchard’s side start their Division 1B campaign this weekend with a home game against Naas at Shaw’s Bridge and the Instonians player/coach wants to push on again and get into the top flight. “That's what we'll probably have in our minds for a couple of seasons, is that we think we're good enough to compete at the very top,” said Pritchard. “That's just always been the mindset that we've had, this will be a really big challenge for us this year. "This feels like a very big step up, but it's one that we're ready for and we're looking forward to. “The group of guys are so good and so ambitious and it has never been a case of them thinking of anything other than trying to win rugby matches and trying to get better. “We are very fortune with the group that we have and with the connection with the school there's more young guys coming in who have done quite well at school rugby and are coming into the adult game, they're replenishing stock for us every year. “We're just a very ambitious group, we want to see how far we can go, we spoke last year about how we played a couple of 1A teams...we thought we did very well.” Inst have added former Ulster and Ireland winger Craig Gilroy to the squad and he will bring experience to the back line along with European Cup winner Ian Whitten, while in the pack Schale van der Merve and Pritchard himself offer plenty of knowledge. “There's a lot of experience and that's always massive for us in training and coming into match days,” said Pritchard. “There'll be a lot of experience on the pitch this weekend in terms of pro-game from those guys and a lot of club caps. "It's key and it helps that we've got young players coming out of school. “It's key for us having those guys, just to help pass on that knowledge and to help mentor young guys coming up and through and help them develop their game and on and off the pitch as well. “It's rugby at the end of the day, we're expecting the opposition to be tougher than what they were last year, as you'd expect. “We've tried to get better and whatever happens on Saturday there'll be a lot of room for improvement all the way right up to the end of the year. “We've worked very hard in pre-season, we've probably done the toughest pre-season that we've done since I've been at Instonians.” “That was one thing we identified that we felt as a group we'd have to be a lot fitter. “We're still going to try and play an attacking game, we’re not going to change who we are or our identity. “We want to still be playing the Instonians brand that we've been playing for the last three or four seasons. “Everyone's fit and raring to go, there'll be a few guys disappointed, but it's a long season and there'll be plenty of opportunity for everyone.” Gilroy will make his Inst debut from the bench while Bevan Prinsloo returns from Ulster A duty to partner Ian Whitten in midfield.
