IT IS all systems go at Minehead Barbarians Rugby Football Club where they are currently completing a very positive and successful pre-season training programme.

Last week the Barbarians elected their captains and confirmed the coaching team for 2026-27. The First XV captain will be Bruce Bullard , while the captaincy duties for the Second XV will be shared between Harry Reeder and Matt Holman.

Luke Milton is the Director of Rugby at MBRFC, Greg Richards is the head coach, Jack Claydon is the senior coach and the forwards coach is Dave Edwards.

The First XV, which is sponsored by AP Farmer, will be managed by Kyle Lewis, while the Second XV sponsored by Wilkie May and Tuckwood will be managed jointly by Justin Harris and Chris Govier.

Looking ahead towards the new season Luke Milton said: “There are a lot of good things going on at Minehead Barbarians.

“This year we have got Bridgwater and Taunton Seconds in our league which means local derbies that we like because we do seem to play a lot of our away matches up in the Bristol area.”

Luke went on: “The start of the league has been put back to September 26 now by the RFU because of the weather but we have got a pre-season match on Saturday, September 19, against Cullompton here in Minehead which we hope to get as many people along as possible. “The First XV play their opening match of the season on Saturday, September 26 against St Bernadettes away, and the Second XV are at home that day against Morganians.”

Luke added: “We are looking for both team pushing for promotion - we were there or thereabouts last year and we have almost all of our players from last season, plus we have got a few additions, so we are feeling very positive.”