ANTHONY O’Riordan is confident Colchester Rugby Club can launch a challenge near the top of National League Three this season.

The Mill Road side are preparing for their second stint in the division, having impressed in their maiden campaign last year.

Colchester have been boosted by the addition of a number of talented Bedford Blues youngsters ahead of their curtain-raiser at home to Guernsey on Saturday week, having linked up with the Championship club.

The newly-formed alliance will see some of Bedford’s talented academy players and fringe first-team players ply their trade in Essex.

And as they prepare for their opening pre-season game against Bury St Edmunds on Saturday, Colchester’s director of rugby O’Riordan is feeling bullish about their chances.

O’Riordan said: “I think we’re in a position to really compete.

“I want to finish fourth or higher and we were over the moon with how both the players and the coaching team performed last year.

“The challenge is to keep moving forward and I’d be disappointed if we didn’t finish in the top five.

“We were caught at times last season - we were slightly naïve going into Christmas but the performances that we produced after that were fantastic.”

Colchester have lost the services of key duo Matt Smith and Callum Irvine, this summer.

Smith has moved to Bristol because of work commitments, while Irvine has relocated to Ireland.

O’Riordan acknowledges that they will be missed but insisted he is confident that others can step up and seize their opportunity to shine.

“I wish them the very best of luck for the future,” said O’Riordan.

“There’s certainly no hard feelings and they’re moving on for the right reasons.

“They’re not leaving because they don’t like Colchester or because they’re not being paid.

“They have to think about their individual futures and I can’t stress enough about how much I’ve enjoyed working with them at Colchester.

“People are concerned about their departure but what is a loss to some is an opportunity for someone else to shine.

“We have the depth and the strength for people to step up and if they don’t, then we’ll deal with that accordingly.

“We’re an amateur club, so recruiting players in a climate where people are paying players is difficult.

“But it’s a good challenge and one that we rise to and it’s not something that we moan about.

“We’re really fortunate in that we have an incredibly talented side.

“Our strength is that we don’t go for mercenaries; we go through our successful youth and minis set-up.

“We might have lost games but we have lost them through pulling together and trying to win the fight.”

Colchester begin the National League Three season with a home game against Guernsey at Mill Road on Saturday, September 3 (2pm kick-off).