HEWORTH ARLC kick off their campaign on Saturday with new boss Neil Horton under no illusions that he and his team face a "huge challenge".

The once great amateur club, who have struggled in recent years in division three of the National Conference League, were beginning to climb the ladder under Tim Rumford towards the end of last season - only for Rumford to then get the head coach role at League One expansion professional club Oxford.

Not only that but he took three leading players, Danny Allan, Adam Withington and Jonny Payne with him.

Castleford-based Horton, 36, is now the man tasked with continuing to lift the club out of the doldrums, but it is a job made harder, like in recent years, by the calibre of clubs joining the NCL in division three - meaning this tier is the lowest but not necessarily the weakest in the league.

Horton said of his decision to take the job: "It's a huge challenge. I've looked at the club's results in the last few years. I want to challenge myself as a coach and this is a great opportunity to do that.

"Heworth are a sleeping giant of amateur rugby and I want to take them forward.

"The first aim is to win more games than last year, and top half will be a bonus.

"I don't know too much about division three but I do know there are a few teams coming into the league of a good standard who have won trophies over the years. It will be a tough season."

Horton, 36, head greenkeeper at Aldwoodley Golf Club, is a former pro at Hunslet, Bradford and Wynnum Seagulls in Australia, and starred at amateur level for Oulton. He has also coached at Oulton and Castleford Panthers and for Yorkshire and Great Britain Under-21 BARLA teams.

Two months of pre-season has included two friendlies, culminating in a 30-16 win over Scarborough Pirates last week, in which former Heworth and York Acorn Joe Deighton scored two tries and five goals. The highly-rated former Featherstone academy starlet is one a few players the Villagers are pinning hopes on this year, along with skipper Chris Varley. A couple of new faces are also on board, including Sam Waite, a prop from Castleford.

Said Horton: "They're a young group but they're willing to learn and we're starting to get structures in place.

"It will take a lot of hard work, dedication and self-belief. That last one is key. A lot of coaches don't coach the psychology of winning. There are lads here who are willing to develop and, adding in one of two new faces, I think we can progress."

The season beings on Saturday with Dewsbury Moor Maroons visiting Elm Park Way (2.30pm).

Heworth spokesman Ken Sykes said of Horton's appointment: "In many respects we're starting from scratch again unfortunately.

"We were pleased for Tim because he's an ambitious coach. He was approached by Oxford and offered the job. He was torn because he was happy at Heworth and we were starting to look good - we won our last three games of last season - but he knew if he didn't give it a go, he might regret it.

"However, he took Danny Allan, Jonny Payne and Adam Withington with him, who were three of our better players, so it was a bit of a shock.

"Neil's building from scratch and he's going to have a tough job.

"We've got some good young players but they are young and we need to try to recruit a bit so our early games might be extremely tough, but we're optimistic Neil is the right man to take us forward."

Acorn, who kicked off their division one campaign with a 62-22 thumping of Wigan St Jude's, host Milford Marlins looking to continue that winning start but knowing a tougher encounter is likely.