TROWBRIDGE are hoping to use a blast from the past to help forge a new path for the club, according to new head coach Dan Jeffries.

After former Bath and England back row Steve Ojomoh stepped down at the end of last season, Jeffries was handed the reins at Doric Park and arrives with a fine pedigree, having led Salisbury to back-to-back promotions during their rise to National Three level.

One of the first calls put in when Jeffries arrived was to some of Trowbridge’s Intermediate Cup-winning squad from 2014 while centre Shai Bonnick arrives after spending a year playing semi-professionally in Australia.

Having been relegated back to Southern Counties South last season, Jeffries is keen to draw a line under that campaign and the early signs are promising.

“I have spoken a lot to the boys about it being a two-year job,” he said. “Development will take some time but pre-season fixtures have gone really well. We have won five out of five.

“The ethos is now in the right place but in order to get the work-rate and the exact style that I am looking for, we are going to have to break a few eggs along the way.

“We’ve started completely from the beginning.

“The longer term vision is about developing a Trowbridge way to play which goes all the way through the club.

“We have had the Colts training with us for the first time and I have done a lot of work with the coaches involved in the twos and threes.

“There will be a time when injuries and things start to build up and we need to know the depth is in the club.”

Trowbridge start tomorrow with a home fixture against Devizes, who finished fourth in the league last season, and while Jeffries is not underestimating the task at hand, he is keen to get the ball rolling early this year.

“Devizes will be up there in the promotion race, so it is a big tough one to start with,” he added.

“John Kimberley, their coach, is a great coach and I would put them as a more established team than us.

“Although we have got a lot of guys who have been around the club for a long time, the boys say that it feels like a new team.

“They’ll definitely have that edge but we are playing some very good rugby and we will be a difficult side to beat and we’ll take it to them.

“John has been down to two of our games, so he is obviously taking our threat very seriously.

“Winning is a habit and it creates momentum and it is about getting that habit early on.”