DAVID Dunn is convinced his Lions stars can make the grade at the next level and insists: “We are clearly ready for the step up.”

The Bournemouth director of rugby has already started his planning for next season after masterminding the club’s National Three South West title triumph.

Lions sealed the championship and promotion to the fourth tier of English rugby with a 61-5 home win over Weston-super-Mare on Saturday.

Dunn admits Bournemouth will need to prepare thoroughly for the tougher demands of National Two South – with the key task being to build an extended squad.

But he believes Lions’ new division should hold no fears and says the club’s champions can step up to the plate.

He told the Daily Echo: “The players have grown with it. We started off in Southern Counties – and we were about fourth from bottom – and this is the third promotion we have had.

“Players have come into the squad but the nucleus is still a group of local lads that have grown together, so there is no reason to suggest they are not going to grow into the next level as well.

“The next level is going to be that much harder and that much more physical and there are going to be greater training demands on the players.

“Our strength in depth has been tested during the course of this season and it is quite clear that we are going to have to have greater strength in depth to run a programme in National League Two.

“We have already played the likes of Taunton, Clifton, Hertford, Barnes and Hartpury so we know what we are up against and it is not as if we are going into uncharted territory.

“Those teams have jumped out of our league and made it up to the level above, so it does not hold any fears for me, but we have got to prepare for it properly and thoroughly.

“If you look at our results this season, we are clearly ready for the step up and certainly ready to play at the next level.

“That is probably down to the fact we missed out on promotion last year by the narrowest of margins. But now we are ready to take on that new challenge of the level above and it is an exciting prospect.”

Dunn added: “There is nobody in our squad who I am going to turn around to during the summer and say ‘you are not good enough to play at the level above’. Everybody in our squad is capable of playing the level above and doing justice to themselves and the team.

“What we have got to do is make sure that if we get a run of injuries, we have got the strength in depth to be able to maintain the momentum in a campaign at the next level up.”