We begin our look at the NCU Premiership clubs with CSNI who have former Irish international Stuart Thompson donning the skipper's armband.

They have former CIYMS player Keith Dudgeon as their overseas player, while Jordan Neill arrives from Merrion, and James Kennedy also returns.

"The young players will make up the bulk of our squad and we are hoping they’ve progressed through the winter with a number of them involved at the U19 World Cup," said Thompson.

"I’ll be honest I can’t pick out one that I think will out perform the others, they all offer different skills and hopefully another season of opportunities and representative honours for them. 

"I think the quality and depth of the league has increased again this year, looking at the signings of overseas players and other recruitment it looks very strong.

"The strength of the league has benefitted players in the interpros with the Knights winning various competitions and players representing Ireland Wolves and the senior side. 

"For ourselves we’ll be looking to compete in all competitions. On our day we can be a danger to any side but in previous seasons we’ve lacked some consistency to take that leap forward and bring back silverware.

"Our success stories of late haven’t been trophies but producing players, but if we can marry the two together that would be great."