OLLY Kohn believes Thornbury have the pack to build a winning platform for this season’s Tribute South West One West push which has seen them win their last four matches and climb to fourth in the table.

Free-scoring Thornbury have been running in the tries this season, with Tom Luke leading the division’s points-scoring standings at the moment with 91.

The brand of rugby that Thornbury have been playing this season has also seen them score 24 league tries.

But delivering the ball from the set-pieces and loose situations is where every team needs to focus as the winter approaches and the grounds start to get soaked – and Thornbury are no exception.

This area is where the new forward coaching team of ex-Harlequins lock and Welsh international Kohn and Thornbury legend Wayne Thompson are coming into play after they were drafted into the squad in the summer following the departure of ex-head coach Gareth Llewellyn back to his native Wales.

Assistant coach Kohn, who has linked up with ex-Bristol Rugby colleague and Thornbury head player-coach Rob Higgitt, said: “Between myself and Wayne, we have focussed on delivering a solid pack.

“We have now got a good base at the line-out and a scrum which is solid. Our mauling is good and when we come up against big sides, we compete up front.

“So we are better prepared than we have been in other years for that wet weather game.”

Kohn, who was born in Bristol, coached students at Bristol University last year having retired from Aviva Premiership outfit Harlequins, a club where he played 140 times, in 2012/13 due to injury.

It was while he was at the Memorial Stadium that he played alongside Higgitt, and, when the chance arrived to help his former team-mate on the coaching side at Thornbury, he jumped at it.

“Over the years, I have coached at a couple of junior levels of the game and really enjoyed it. But I made a decision when I was a player that, when I finished, I did not want to be a full-time professional coach.

“Thornbury is a good club. When I moved back from Quins to Bristol, I was looking to get involved with some coaching and Rob said come along.

“I still love the game and still like to keep myself fit,” added the former lock who now runs a successful sausage-making business that he and his brothers Josh and Max have built from a kitchen table to online retailers in only eight years.