Clifton have been successful in attracting a large number of players over the pre-season whilst only losing Sam Wilkes to Cinderford and David Rees to retirement. This has resulted in good attendance at training and difficult selection decisions for the first game but does mean there is a large first team squad.

For this opening game Clifton hand debuts to Paul Fincken (Newbury), Dan Howick and Tom Poole (Cleve), Duncan Kelly (Cinderford), James Stark (Bridgwater), and Lewis Wilson (Barton Hill). Also making the startup are Chris Ashwin and George Watkins who are dual registered with Bristol. Finally Ben Purcell also returns to his home club and where he played as a junior after a number of successfull seasons with Bridgwater. Congratulations to all those selected but with 30 games to play in the season Clifton are to be sure to require all of their first team squad members. Congratulations also to John Levis and Matt Britton who have been named Club Captain and First XV Captain respectively.

The management have been pleased with the standard that has been shown in pre-season and will be emphasising that the team will need to increase the intensity again to come away from Kent with the spoils against a proven National 2 South team. Clifton generally pay very little attention to the pre-season rumours or player movements as it can often bear little relationship to how the teams perform. The management will simply be urging the players to put into practice the very specific areas that the coaching team have been focusing on in training and to play with the same passion and intensity that they exhibited throughout last season. Good luck to all.

In other games Clifton Wanderers start their opening game in the newly formed Gloucestershire reserve leagues against Avonmouth 2s away whilst the Bandits play St Marys Old Boys 2's at home and the Nomads play Barton Hill 3s at home.

The minis and juniors start their season on Sunday with a number of games and training taking place but it is certainly not too late to join if you are between 6 and 17 years old and would like to play. Just come along on any Sunday at 10AM. If you would like more information please contact Ian Vaughan at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it for Infant/Junior school age groups, or Andy White at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it   or 07971 544709 for Senior school age-groups. Why not join the rugby community by joining Clifton?

If you are a senior player we also cater for any player contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or click on one of the senior team links to the left.