Chester RUFC have assembled a strong-looking squad for the new National League Two North season, which begins this weekend at home to Huddersfield (3pm).

Director of rugby Nic Corrigan has focused on retention and ensuring the club develops against its future ambitions, keeping hold of the core of the squad that secured a top-six finish last term and added some new faces.

With an average age of 24 and almost 30% of the squad being homegrown, the club has one eye on the future but Corrigan believes the men from Hare Lane can improve on last season.

He  said: “We have worked hard all season on understanding who we are, what we want to be and ensuring that we are part of the DNA of the club.

"This means owning our areas of development and it also means connecting young players to the club. The second part of this is building a legacy and being part of the city of Chester.

"Our greatest challenge is to establish a legacy that our club and city will be proud to build upon for years to come."

Over the close season the club has taken steps to encourage the development of homegrown talent, with 26% of the current squad joining Chester aged 15 or below.

All first team squad members have been allocated to one of the club's junior teams and are expected to deliver 12 training sessions and attend group training.            

Club captain Tom Gregory said: "To my mind 26% is a baseline measurement for Chester RUFC.

"We need to improve this by developing the whole club and need to support our age group coaches, who are volunteers with better CPD opportunities to reduce the gap from junior rugby to senior rugby.”

Chester RUFC squad for 2014-15

Tom Gregory, Gavin Woods, Tom Evans, Sean Green, Mike Craven, Ross White, Luke Wishnowsky, Rhys Hayes, Liam Gill, Peter Rees, Guy Ford, Harrison Vare, Kyle Joseph, Ali Miller, James Preston, William Goodwin, Will Bown, Rob Fitzgerald, James Whitelock, Tom Foden, Matt Bevan, John Mackenzie, Andy Moore, Luke Gray, Matt Walsh, Craig Ross, Ashley Murphy, Sam Vaughan.

For the thoughts of Nic Corrigan on the new season see this week's Chronicle, out on September 4.