Jacob Ford preparing for a physical test when Bury St Edmunds travel to Tonbridge Juddians in National League 2 East

Jacob Ford is preparing his unbeaten Bury St Edmunds side for a physical test when they visit Tonbridge Juddians tomorrow (3pm).

The Wolfpack make the trip to Kent having made a flying start in National League 2 East season, winning both their opening fixtures.

Ford’s side now face a stern examination of their early-season form against Tonbridge, who have dropped down to the fourth tier after being relegated from National League 1 at the end of last term.

“It’s going to be physical,” Bury’s head coach and director of rugby said. “They’re an incredibly tough team to beat.

“For us it’s all about getting the mindset right. We need to have a really strong training week, in terms of focusing on ourselves.

“It’s a massive week. We’re going to have to be on it. Everyone will have to be on it, but it’s exciting. It’s a beautiful challenge.”

Ford has called for his Bury players to make The Greene King IPA Haberden a fortress this season in order to achieve their goal of a top-four finish.

The Wolfpack marked their return to home turf with a 36-27 victory over North Walsham on Saturday, as Ford’s charges made it two wins from two at the start of the new season.

After finishing their previous campaign with trips to Old Albanian and Canterbury and playing all of their pre-season fixtures away from home, Bury were greeted to a long-overdue homecoming at the weekend.

And Ford, who created a slice of club history with it being the first time the Wolfpack have started a season with two wins from their first two games since moving up to rugby union’s fourth tier in 2015, knows how important their home form will be over the coming months.

“It’s fantastic playing at home,” Bury’s head coach and director of rugby said.

“The boys love playing here. We showed some fantastic character towards the end of the game.

“I think we’ve got to make this place a fortress. We’ve got to be difficult to beat if we play at home or away, but especially at home.

“If we keep to that throughout this season then we’ll have a great chance of being in and around the top four.”

First-half tries from Ruaraidh Williams, Shaq Meyers and Ben Cooper had helped Bury to a slender 19-17 advantage at the interval, before a Matt Hodgson penalty edged North Walsham in front early on in the second half.

Mike Stanway scored the first of his two tries to put the home side ahead again, with Browne giving Bury some breathing space when he went over for the Wolfpack’s fifth try of the afternoon on 68 minutes, which was converted by Drury-Hawkins to make it 31-20.

Substitute Ethan Sikorski’s try a minute from time, converted by Hodgson, set up a nervy final minute for Bury, but those nerves were quickly squashed when Stanway notched his second try with only a handful of seconds left on the clock.

“It was a very similar game to last week,” Ford said. “We found ourselves in a position in the last 15-20 minutes where we had to grind out a win.

“We found a way to do it and that’s probably something we didn’t have last season, so that’s a real positive.

“I thought Walsham moved the ball really well. They’re going to be a really good team this year. It’s going to be a tough game when we play them again in December.”