Head coach Mike Haywood described himself as “very excited to get stuck in” as Colchester prepare to kick-off their National League rugby season on Saturday.

Newly promoted back to the fourth tier of English rugby after one season away, Colchester begin their campaign with a fixture against London club Barnes (kick-off 3pm).

Supporters can expect something of a new-look team following the recruitment of 13 new players over a busy summer on and off the pitch.

“From the club’s perspective we’ve picked up plenty of players and the strength in depth between the ones and twos has grown,” said Haywood. “It’s going to be a tough selection process this week.”

Barnes are bound to present quite a challenge first up. They finished last season in fourth place in National 2 East, winning 16 of their 26 matches.

On Colchester’s last visit to Barnes’s deceptively homely ground beside the River Thames, they lost 36-20 on what was only their third ever match in Nat 2 East. The return match later in the season saw the London club win 57-28, Colchester picking up a try-scoring bonus point.

It has been a lengthy pre-season campaign for Colchester’s players and coaches, with the dry weather slightly disrupting planned warm-up matches. But Haywood is happy with the preparation.

“It’s been a long pre-season, we started at the back end of June. With the season finally starting this weekend it’s an exciting time.”

With the Rugby Football Union ordering a delay to the start of the league season for teams at level five and below due to the state of grass pitches across the country, this weekend sees two friendly matches for the As and Cavaliers.

The 3s play Chelmsford 2s on the Raven Park artificial pitch at 2pm, with the 4s then taking on Pegasus at 4pm.

The action starts on Friday night with the Roman Ruins playing Colchester Kings in a friendly under the Raven Park lights at 7.30pm.