Aylesbury Rugby Club and returning head coach Dave Larham have been gearing up for their first game of the new season at Thatcham this Saturday with a series of pre-season battles.
The first game was against Aylesbury Athletic – the prison side with the Ducks winning 62-36.
The second warm-up match was at Leighton Buzzard where an Aylesbury side weakened by player shortages rose to the challenge and only lost the game five tries to two.
The last pre-season tussle was held at RAF Halton against Luton-based Stockwood Park.
Again the Ducks had many players missing due to work commitments and the line-up saw forward players play in back line positions.
Ays trailed 19-14 going into the last few minutes and were looking likely to level things up only for a slack pass to allow a Stockwood Park winger to run the length of the field and score.
Ducks travel to newly-promoted Thatcham this Saturday.