Jersey have been the coming force in the Greene King IPA Championship for the past couple of years but coach Neil Tunnah admits that a new-look Reds outfit will be starting from scratch this season.

Harvey Biljon’s side have finished sixth, and then fifth in the last two Championship campaigns, only missing out on last year’s play-offs by virtue of the fact that Ealing won one more game than them.

But this summer it has been all change on the Channel Island with more than 20 new faces coming in and almost as many going the other way.

Tunnah is also a new addition to the coaching staff, the Scot joining after an impressive spell in Australia’s National Rugby Championship.

Tunnah will take over the forwards this season and admits that while their recent year on year improvements have grown confidence – including a run to the final of last season’s British & Irish Cup – that will count for little this time around.

“They had a good season last year, they fell short at the last hurdle in the B & I but they had a good season,” said Tunnah at the Greene King IPA Championship launch at Twickenham on Monday.

“But for me coming in new it’s a fresh start, I think it’s the start of a new cycle and with the turnover of players it’s more about looking forward than looking back for us to be quite honest.

“We’re looking forward but we’re not looking past the Doncaster game at this stage. As I said we’ve got some key ‘work-ons’ that we’ll knock over in the next couple of weeks.

“We haven’t looked at the season so far and I’m going to stick to that. It’s week-on-week and I’m going to stick to that especially with so many new players, we’ll just try and dot the I’s and cross the t’s on a weekly basis and we’ll hopefully get some decent results off the back of that and see where we go.”

Marquee additions this year include Jared Saunders from Saracens and South African talent Scott van Breda from Western Province who has Super Rugby experience with the Stormers.

Jersey pride themselves on their pack of forwards, and Tunnah know that first and foremost his job is to ensure his side continue to lay a strong platform up front.

“I think when you bring 20 new guys in you have to bring them up to speed with what we’re all about as a club to start with,” he added.

“Then there’s new systems and structures in place that are maybe slightly different from where they’ve been, but, look, we’ve got a long enough pre-season to get all that stuff in and it’s exciting.

“I think everyone expects Jersey to have a good pack and a good lineout. Obviously I’ve come in with a weight of expectation as well, so the challenge for me is to try and continue that side of things and hopefully add some fresh ideas to the mix and help Harvey and the boys evolve. That’s what we’re all about, trying to evolve and move forward.”

The Greene King IPA Championship is the second tier of professional rugby in England. To keep up to date with the latest news and features follow @ChampRugby on Twitter