Luke Arscott has seen his pre-season campaign as “a learning curve” with Dings earning a big victory against Glasgow Academicals.
Crusaders picked up their first win in their pre-season, with a convincing display against their Scottish Division Two opponents.
Archie Stapleton scored a try, while Aaron Thompson produced a promising performance ahead of the league opener on September 3, by scoring a brace.
Chris Rovery added gloss to the performance, taking advantage of a strong scrum to finish off a successful day.
Head coach Arscott said: “There has been a lot of mix and matching and trying to get boys rugby in their legs at the moment and come Thursday we are going to chop the squad right down.
“We are going to look upwards not downwards and improve on last season. We are heading into a bit of the unknown with the structure changing, but if we improve, I'll be very happy.”
Dings finished seventh in National Two South last season after wins over Westcliff and Clifton and Arscott added: “We are still going to be buzzing off the momentum we got from last season and preseason has really given us the buzz to keep going.”
