A really successful Gloucester Cup campaign seeing six back to back victories in the “Group of Death” finally came to an end at Cinderford in the semi finals when a depleted squad travelled up to the Forest of Dean against their old adversaries.

The Pool stages saw Clifton up against some of the strongest teams in the county with Lydney, Dings, St.Marys , Ross on Wye and Old Patesians all in the group

First up Old Patesians on 10th January Away at Cheltenham College grounds which were in surprisingly good condition given the rain , the boys fought hard against a talented team and came away with a spirited 12-5 away victory.

Next up Dings , already having had one away fixture there we knew how hard a match this would be and probably the hardest fought pool match , the boys were superb and an away 15-13 win in the muddy conditions was no more than the boys deserved. Dings eventual finalists.

An away match against new opponents for us Ross on Wye where the score flattered us and did the opponents no justice but none the less a good 46-0 win.

St.Marys at home next and always keenly contested, 19-12 win.

Finally Lydney at home and the boys were starting to believe in themselves , of course cue probably the worst first half display in the competition and a good performance from our opponents saw us well behind at half time, the turning point just into the second half when the boys woke up and finally started playing some rugby and a 26-17 win could have gone either way.

Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts	Adjust
Clifton	5	5	0	0	118	47	71	10	0
Old Patesians	5	3	0	2	88	43	45	6	0
Lydney	5	3	0	2	91	70	21	6	0
Dings Crusaders	5	2	0	3	94	27	67	4	0
St Mary's OB	5	2	0	3	19	70	-51	4	0
Ross-on-Wye RFC	5	0	0	5	0	153	-153	0	0

This clearly was the “group of death” with two cup semi finalists and one finalist coming from it and two plate semi finalist and one finalist. To come out on top was a fantastic achievement and one the coaches and boys should be very proud of.

So top of the league and a home quarter final secured we welcomed Minchinhampton next who had some big lads. Unfortunately come March and injuries, school trips and absences started to have its toll. 4 key players missing but the lads did really well and even though our opponents had probably more possession we did more with the possession we had and came away 24-5 winners.

So six wins out of six and into the last 4 of the county cup , what an achievement!

Unfortunately 6 key players missing for our trip to Cinderford , a spirited performance from the team but a talented Cinderford side proved too strong. Onwards and upwards.

The challenging end of season and school commitments has convinced us we need to strengthen the squad and add some additional players for next season so that we can fulfill all fixtures comfortably, please put out the feelers for any boys (school year10 next year) that want to join us please get in touch with Phil.