LAUNCESTON’S new head coach Steve Perry wants the locals to ‘come down and enjoy how we play’ having been appointed as Ryan Westren’s successor.

The former fly-half spent several seasons at Polson Bridge as a player, and following long spells at Step Five with both Barnstaple and Exmouth, before a year at Newton Abbot, Perry is relishing his return to Regional One South West.

Perry - who will work alongside former Welsh international Will James, who is in charge of the forwards - said: “Playing almost 200 games here, I have a real affinity for the club. That’s one draw, another is I really enjoy coaching at this level having done it for 13 years.

“That opportunity to coach where I’ve played and at a decent level with committed young men, that’s what I’m looking forward to.

“I’m passionate and committed and I want to do well, but mainly I just love coaching and making the team look pretty on the field while playing to our strengths. Also making sure the boys enjoy each others company – that’s a big thing for me. The social side is hugely important in rugby.”

Launceston needed an epic comeback at Topsham on the final day back in April to guarantee survival, but Perry is keen to give the current squad every chance to impress.

He continued: “Firstly, it’s a really competitive league with some really good sides. I think the team won eight games last year which is pretty good, but the league is so competitive and you have to turn those close games into wins.

“The main aim will be to improve and get a better performance in the league, that’ll be the challenge for the coaching staff and players to achieve that.

“I’m looking forward to working with the lads who are here and improving them, that’s the major remit. It’s also about having players coming through your Colts and progressing those, and that’s the same with the girls. My main aim really is to improve what we have here and if signings come because we need to improve certain areas, then brilliant. My aim, though, is to improve what we have.”

On his style, he added: “I love to throw the ball around, but I know you’ve got to play with what you’ve got, so we’ll have to see what sort of standard our players are, what positions we have and try to adapt to that. You can’t throw it around too much if you’ve not got the players to do that.

“With pre-season it’ll be about doing the basics at the beginning, going through our structures and how we want to play.

“We’ll probably have to run before we walk as in we’ll have to implement things pretty quickly. We’ll get about 14 training sessions before we play. It’ll be tough, but good. We need to get the lads fit and in condition, particularly when we only have a Tuesday and a Thursday.”

Launceston are often backed by crowds approaching 500, a fact not lost on the 45-year-old.

He concluded: “I loved it when I was here and I’m looking to hopefully getting a lot of people to come down and enjoy how we play. When I played here the boys put their bodies on the line for the shirt, that’s always important for the supporters.”