SOUTHEND Rugby Club’s speedy winger Mark Billings will be aiming to continue his flying start to the season at Shelford tomorrow.

The former SEEVIC pupil has scored four tries in the Seasiders’ opening three matches of the new National Two South campaign.

And Southend coach Jamie Connors has been delighted to see Billings back to his best.

“Mark has a lot of pace and he’s a really good start to the season,” said Connors.

“It’s good to see as well because he lost a bit of form towards the end of last year and I’m sure that’s something he would agree with too.

“But he’s been playing well in our opening three games and can hopefully keep that going.”

Just like Billings, Southend have also made an encouraging start to the season and currently sit third in the table after three matches.

They beat both Richmond and Hinckley in their opening two matches before fighting back to draw 32-32 with Ealing last weekend.

Shelford have triumphed in just one of their three games so far, beating Hinckley 34-7 last weekend.

But Connors, who coaches the forwards at Warners Bridge, believes the Cambridgeshire club will provide a tough test.

“Last year we drew at their place and they’re a strong side, especially at home,” said Connors.

“I think they will probably go on to finish around mid-table this season but they will give us a real challenge and we will have to be on form to beat them.”

Southend will therefore need to play like they did in the second half against Ealing last weekend and not the first after they found themselves 26-10 down before fighting back late on.

“We need to stick to our game plan, like we did after half-time against Ealing,” said Connors, who turned to coaching after a nasty neck injury ended his playing career with the Seasiders.

“We were disappointed not to win but that was a game we would’ve last season.

“We never seemed able to come back from going behind but we did that on Saturday and there were plenty of other positives for us to build on.”

Southend have no new injury problems for this weekend’s clash with scrum-half Sam Arnott expected to shake off a slight knee problem.