LUCTONIANS director of rugby Alex Davidson has targeted a fourth place finish in National League 2 North.

The Mortimer Park side, who start with a trip to newly promoted Sheffield Tigers this Saturday, finished a very respectable sixth last season after looking like relegation candidates during the first half of the campaign.

"I have openly said that fourth is a position that I am aiming for," said Davidson.

"I think we only picked up eight points through to mid-November last year and then got all our points in the second half, so if we get double figure points early on and settle the ship, then we should be able to push towards the top of the league."

Davidson believes this Saturday's opening game will be a tough test for his side, but sees no reason why they cannot win.

"They got relegated a couple of years ago but I think they're on that upward spiral," he said.

"Anyone who gets promoted usually play well in the opening games, so we're expecting a tough challenge.

"It's a bit of a tough place to go, but I'm glad we're going there in September rather than the middle of winter."

Davidson has brought in a number of new players and targeted big forwards.

"When I came back here we were a very large side, then lost a glut of senior forwards and since then we've struggled a little bit," admitted Davidson.

"We've adapted our game and played a bit wider, but we've got the bigger forwards now to throw back in there which makes us more of a complete squad."

One new player is German prop Jorn Schroder, who won the German Bundesliga with TV Pforzheim last season.

Schroder knows former Luctonian Dale Garner and said he wanted to play in England.

"Dale told me to keep in tough with Alex [Davidson] and now I'm here," he said.

"It's a good club and great people around here.

"We've got a good team spirit and I think we can achieve good things in the league because we have a strong squad and have the chance to go to the top level.

"I started playing in Hanover then I moved to the south of Germany to Pforzheim.

"It's a good level, but in England you have a challenge every week, whereas in Germany you have three games then two weeks off, which is not what I want."

Schroder scored a try for Lucs in a 32-19 victory over National League Two South side Redingensians last Saturday.

Rob Crowley, Alex Smith, Tom Jones and Joe White were also on the scoresheet, with Louis Silver adding two conversions and a penalty.

"We've been a little bit disruptive getting the right people here at the right time, but it all came together," added Davidson.

"We won the game convincingly and there's plenty to work on.

"We've recruited well in the front four and five and that showed its worth – we dominated the game for large periods and won most of the collisions into the second half, which gave us the win."

MATCH FACTS

Luctonians: Morris; Grimes, Crowley, A Smith, Scott-Young, Jones, Silver; Schroder, Street, White, Knott, Psota, Cheshire, Hackley, Morall.

Redingensians: Lloyd; Aimins-Reddin, Green, Sanders, McDermottroe, Guttridge, Cole; Weller, Henderson, Baker, Crandon, J Smith, Amor, Hopkins, Kharbouch.

Replacements: U Chong, Clementson, Marris, Paxton, O Smith.

Referee: Ben Davis; assistants: Peter Brunt, Fred Spong.

Star man: Sam Knott.

Match rating: 4/5.