WESTCLIFF skipper Harry Branch is looking forward to stepping up his side’s pre-season preparations against a strong Rochford Hundred side tomorrow night.

Westcliff finished an impressive seventh in the National Three London & SE standings last term.

And scrum half Branch insists the club is now keen to kick on.

“Pre-season has been great so far, we’ve had numbers at training and everyone has been putting in 100 per cent,” said Branch.

“We’ve had a couple of games already which have gone well too and it’s been encouraging.

“We won 49-10 away at Blackheath and last weekend we played in a tournament at Tring and put together some really good performances.

“Overall, I think we’ve looked great and hopefully we can continue that against Rochford now before we start our season which we want to make better than last year.”

Rochford line up two divisions below Westcliff but are strong favourites for the London Two North East title after significantly strengthening their squad in the summer.

Ten players from Southend - who play in the same league as Westcliff - have made the move to Magnolia Road.

And Branch is therefore expecting an intriguing tussle tomorrow night.

“I really do think this is going to be a great game,” said the former King John School pupil.

“It made me laugh earlier this week when someone asked if I was looking forward to playing ‘Southend Hundred’ and they’re a really strong side now so it will be a tough test for us.

“It’s a game I would definitely advise people to come and watch.”

The friendly - which gets underway at 7.30pm - will continue Westcliff's preparations for the forthcoming campaign which they begin against Dorking at the start of September.

“Our main target this year will be to better last year and finish higher in the table,” said Branch.

“We know that won’t be easy but that’s the main target and our successful season last year has boosted local players to come over and join our set-up.”

Rochford started their pre-season preparations with a 38-26 win against Moortown last weekend.

But their director of rugby Chris Green will not be looking too much into tomorrow’s result.

“Obviously it would be nice to win but it’s mainly about looking at structures of play and getting prepared for the league season,” said Green.

“I’m sure Westcliff will be thinking the same but we’re quite a new side so we have patterns to be working on and games like this are the best way for that to happen.

“Moortown won every game last season so we’re happy with where we’re at but we need to build on it now.”

Rochford finish their pre-season campaign against Harpenden next weekend.