Bury St Edmunds head coach, Jon Curry, is demanding “better standards” from his players, going into today’s National League Two South away match at London Irish Wild Geese (3pm).

The Wolfpack have lost their first two games under new coach Curry, following Ollie Smith’s departure at the beginning of the month (because of family commitments), and have consequently slipped down to eighth in the table.

An 18-27 home defeat at the hands of Henley Hawks was followed by last weekend’s 29-7 defeat at Clifton, and the West Suffolk side will not find it easy at London Irish today.

“We did some things better last weekend, but also some things worse,” explained Curry.

“It was not a great game. We had our chances, but we did not take them. To be truthful, it was not a very good day at the office.

“I will be looking for better standards this weekend. I’m looking for plenty of effort, we need that. We need to work hard.

“We also need to be enjoying playing rugby, but this weekend will be a tough game. It will be a tough day,” added Curry, the former Northampton Saints Academy coach.

Bury’s hopes of finishing in their highest ever league position – they finished sixth in the fourth tier, two seasons ago – look beyond them after the recent back-to-back defeats.

The Haberden club are now 15 points adrift of the top five, and they have a very challenging run-in during their last five fixtures.

In fact, after today they take on the top three in the division, at home to third-placed Redgensians Rams and leaders Cinderford, these fixtures sandwiching a trip to second-placed Chinnor.

Bury end their season with an away match at Tonbridge Juddians, who currently sit one place above them in seventh.

Today’s hosts London Irish recorded an impressive 39-32 home win over Redruth on their last outing.

Bury have lost their last eight away fixtures, their last away win coming at Canterbury (29-21) at the end of October.

BURY SQUAD: Smith, King, Coutts, Bixby, Scholes, Mitchell, Edison, Browne. Ashby, Harrison, Corcoran, Palomares lloret, McBride, Kohler, Watson, Honey, Brown, Wilson,Younie & Taylor.