Director of rugby Andy Howells is a courteous and soft-spoken man, but is increasingly dismayed that individual blunders have blighted overall impressive play and so retarded the team's much-vaunted entry to the unforgiving world of National rugby.

All players have been made aware of their responsibility, but the culpable have one by one been quietly taken aside and discovered there is a blunt and forthright edge to those dulcet Welsh tones.

He would simply say: "I have advised a few of where they have gone wrong and what is expected of them."

A dressing room source said: "Andy has rather laid down the law and, really, it is what we deserved."

Greater consistency would certainly have produced a better-rewarded initiation into National 2 North than a solitary – albeit very commendable – win against hosts Loughborough Students in the first four games of the campaign.

Title favourites Caldy, though aided by the Shieldsmen's defensive errors, deserved to win on their own turf in the curtain-raiser, even if the 38-15 scoreline rather flattered them.

But a repeat of those rearguard mishaps probably cost Westoe the game against Harrogate – the first defeat at Wood Terrace in almost two years.

So when carbon copy failings gifted victory by a solitary point to visitors Preston Grasshoppers on Saturday, Howells decided it was time for some tough talking.

Which is why the players – some more than others – have been made vividly aware of the realities of life among the elite of English rugby.

That said, Howells has seen enough green shoots in his squad to prophesy with assurance that once the flaws have been ironed out the Dunes Adventure Island-sponsored Shieldsmen will hold their own against opponents who week on week are faster and fitter than they have hitherto encountered.

He said: "This is a totally different ball-game, and that is what the players are finding out.

"Individuals have been making wrong decisions, and that has cost us. At this level mistakes are going to be punished, so must be eradicated.

"Last season (when Westoe topped North One to earn automatic promotion) they probably played only two or three games of the same intensity that they are now experiencing every week.

"But we are getting there. There is not a lot wrong, and I feel that we are just a notch, a single click, away from getting it together.

"There has been a lot of quality play, and our speed in the backs is certainly causing problems for our opponents, but then have come the lapses to spoil it."

A lengthening injury list is also causing anxiety – a major blow being that spring-heeled winger Chris Clark, who with his twin James at centre has brought a vitality infusion to the backs, is likely to be out for a month with a torn hamstring.

So he joins scrum-half Chris Judson (broken nose) and Graeme Haswell (cracked rib) on the sidelines. A late decision will be made on No8 John Dye (damaged calf).

Tom Burnham, 21, a Newcastle University student who made three appearances last season, is again available, and is included in a 22-man squad, along with fellow flanker Ryan Foster, who has recovered from a head injury inflicted against Harrogate, and fly-half Charlie Rayner, unavailable last week.

There is certain to be an added competitive flavour when Westoe run out at Hull's Ferens Ground, for it was there that they came a 63-8 cropper in the second game of last season.

But they rallied splendidly to just pip the Humbersiders to the championship.

Nobody expects anything like the same result there this time. And certainly not if Andy Howells' words of stricture and guidance are heeded.

* Returning to the injury front, fears that flanker Ollie Douthwaite had fractured his skull in a tackle in the Third XV's 43-5 defeat against Northern Seconds on Saturday were thankfully unfounded, though the badly-broken cheekbone he sustained will keep him out for the rest of the season.

But excellent team man that he is, he has accepted captain Derek Tighe's invitation to manage the side, which faces a challenging season, having been upgraded a notch to the Northumberland 2A League.