A rugby team from Aspatria welcomed players new and old to the start of their pre-season training this week.

Aspatria Hornets are open to players of all abilities to come and join their training sessions on Monday and Thursday night.

The club has an open-age team, as well as a number of youth teams.

Their open-age team finished second in the Iggesund Cumberland League last season.

Thanks to a re-structuring of the league system, there will now be an Iggesund Premier League next season - meaning there'll be a chance of promotion for the team next year.

The team finished second last season, but as there was no higher league they remained in the same division.

Head coach, Greg Rowley is hopeful about the future of the club.

He said: "We are looking to try and go one better this year.

"We are happy for anyone to come down, as we try and get as many people into rugby as we can.

"It is a family-friendly club, we are all really nice lads.

"We are looking to get some youth into the club, and build from there really."

Pre-season training began on Monday, at Aspatria RUFC.

The second session took place on Thursday, and will be held at Netherhall all weather pitch, 7-8pm every Thursday.

Other Monday sessions will be at Aspatria RUFC, unless otherwise stated.

The sessions are free, however they would ask for a £2 donation per week to pay for travel and equipment.

To find out more about the club, or to get involved, visit www.pitchero.com/clubs/aspatriahornetsrlfc