London Cornish may have enjoyed their best ever season in London Division Two South West, but they are not resting on their laurels, according to the club’s director of rugby.

The exiles finished second in the table and only missed out on promotion following defeat in the play-offs.

Now, in an effort to take that next step, Dickon Moon has recruited a trio of new coaches to the Richard Evans Memorial Ground – with the promise of one more to come.

The former Wasps and London Irish front row Dinos Alexipoulos joins as forwards coach and former Samoan international lock Dan Leo joins as assistant coach, alongside the England women’s 7s skipper Abi Chambelain.

Moon said: “Though we finished runners up in the league and lost the play-off, we do not have a divine right to promotion next season.

“The feeling persists that we need to significantly improve again as the other teams in the division certainly will.

“Bolstering the coaching team is essential in demonstrating the committee’s commitment to our players in this respect, and I am confident that all three will bring something different to us.”

He added: “Despite his name, Dinos is actually Cornish having been brought up in Penryn, where he was a junior.

“He is a friend of our head coach Tom Sincock, with whom he had worked at CS Rugby 1863 a few seasons ago.

“Dan is a mate of mine, who I have been keen to have on board for a year now, though we could not confirm anything until his club situation was sorted for the season ahead.

“Abi was introduced to me through a mutual friend – she is extremely personable and a great communicator, who will be able to be involved on Saturdays as well as at training, which is a real help.

“We look forward to working with all three and have one more piece of our coaching jigsaw to confirm before the full team is complete.”