The University of Gloucestershire’s Rugby League team have gone unbeaten in the league this season, with Oli Winterbottom stating that it “was pretty awesome” to win the league unbeaten.
“(We) started off the season really quite nicely. We had some really good results against Warwick and the rest of the teams in our league that were quite strong.
“We managed to deal with them nicely and to go unbeaten is always a bit of a pleasure, so that was lovely.”
It was the first time in his three years at the club that Winterbottom had been involved in the Conference Cup, which ended in victory, but it didn’t get off to the perfect start.
“We got to the finals day, a bit of traffic on the way down, so a bit of a delayed warm-up. It was getting the kit on on the bus, get strapped up on the bus. I think they’re the sort of challenges that you face playing university sport.
“We couldn’t delay the kick-off because there were other fixtures on afterwards, so it was quite hectic, but I think the group that we’ve got this year is really class at being able to adapt and being able to be good in these scenarios.
“I believe the final score was 54-10, so that was a really awesome way to finish. It was cool to collect some silverware, a trophy and medals. It was a good way for our levers to finish their time at the club.”
Their impressive unbeaten season and Conference Cup victory, made an impression on the University of Gloucestershire’s Vice Chancellor, Clare Marchant, who has invited the team to a celebration at the University’s Business School.
“I think the fact the University showed recognition is really nice. It’s something that the Rugby League programme at the University definitely deserves. There’s been an amazing programme led by James Woodley for three years now since I’ve been here.
“He’s done an awesome job in promoting the sport in the south in general, and to have at Gloucester is a real strong point for the club.
“To be recognised by someone like the vice-chancellor and be given the opportunity to go and have a nice evening with him is pretty cool.”
After the impressive season for Gloucester, Winterbottom has been selected for England’s University squad. He has been selected to play for the entire programme, with no reductions expected by England.
“I’m over the moon. I’m lucky to share it with two of the other boys this year, Tega and James. Myself and Tega have grew up playing our rugby together at school and then to university. We’ve all gotten along really nicely, so it’s a pretty cool opportunity for us boys to share, it’s something we’ve all worked really hard towards.”
