AMERSHAM & Chiltern might want to add the Barbarians suffix to their name in a week or so.

The Weedon Lane outfit are struggling in National League 3 South West, but two recruits from the other side of the world could be the catalyst for a revival.

Dave Skelton is due to touch down from Australia in the coming days and, visa permitting, he’ll be followed by a prop from New Zealand.

With a raft of first teamers also due back from injury and unavailability, head coach Alun Rise says fans need not worry after watching their team slip to a third heavy defeat in four games last weekend.

They were beaten 77-17 at Brixham, following 50-point losses to Weston-Super-Mare and Barnstaple.

Rise said: “We’re trying to build the squad up so we can compete at this level.

“There is a budget there. It’s not endless but it’s a bit of a budget and we’re still recruiting.

“At the moment we’ve got a very young squad, but if we can stay in this league for the next couple or three years and learn how to play at this level, then we can stay here forever and a day.

“We knew it was going to be a difficult weekend, we had roughly 20 players injured or unavailable and possibly 12 of those would have been in the first team squad.

“It’s hard at the moment, but I’m not getting concerned because I know the players still to come back.”

And Rise insists that, despite the score, Saturday’s defeat wasn’t as emphatic as it might appear.

He said: “Although the score says 77-17, there were lots of periods when we played some good stuff.

“But we couldn’t break them down and our defence was poor.”

Tomorrow they host third-placed Chippenham.