Bury St Edmunds’ head coach, Ollie Smith, insists that if the Suffolk club want to progress, on the national stage, then they must get used to coping with long trips and producing match-winning performances far from home.

After an opening day 17-50 home defeat to Tonbridge Juddians, improving Bury have not looked back since, stringing together a run of four straight wins.

One of those victories was on the road down in North Devon at Barnstaple (39-24), a round trip of 600 miles.

This weekend, though, Bury have to cope with an even bigger journey into Cornwall. Their away test at Redruth, in National League Two South, amounts to a massive 754-mile round trip from The Haberden.

“It’s a long trip, and a big challenge,” explained Smith, before starting the journey down to Cornwall.

“Redruth is a cracking little club, and it is steeped in Cornish rugby history. It is also well followed for a club of its size.

“But if we want to progress as a club on the national stage, then we must get used to such long trips.

“What it boils down to is just another pitch, with 15 blokes to beat. We must warn against being wrapped up in how long the journey is, or how good Redruth are at home.

“We did well at Barnstaple, and winning breeds confidence.

“Sure, we have only beaten teams in the bottom six so far, but now we face our biggest tests ti date, at Redruth and then against Taunton (at home) the following weekend.

“It will be a challenging environment, but we should revel playing in the face of adversity,” added Smith.

Tomorrow’s hosts, Redruth, have won all three games on home turf, against Old Redcliffians (58-10), Wimbledon (24-15) and Worthing (20-19), but lost twice on the road at Barnstaple (29-24) and Taunton (34-17).

They are one place behind Bury, in sixth spot. Next weekend’s visitors, Taunton, have won all five matches and are second only to Cinderford in the table.

BURY squad: Smith, Silvestri, Coutts, Scholes, Stanley, Mitchell, Stapleton, Browne. Anderson-Brownm McBride, Corcoran, Uru, Kohler, Duplenne, Lord. Replacements: Greco, Brown, Swithenbank, Merolle, Honey.