University of Gloucestershire Prop James Sampson believes that there is ‘more to come’ and ‘a lot to play for’ in 2023 for the Men’s Rugby Union team.
He reflected on their results earlier in the season, and their goals going into 2023 and the few games that they have left of the season.
The Men’s Rugby Union team is one of the biggest clubs at the University of Gloucestershire (UoG) and following a difficult season and a loss at varsity last year, a big turnaround was wanted by the players and coaches.
New blood, a refreshed attitude, and a bigger hunger to succeed were apparent from the start and led the side to a win in their first league game of the season against the University of Bristol.
Since then, the side’s results have been slightly more disappointing than what the team would’ve hoped. However, not all of these results were reflective of the performance put in. When the first team played Swansea University in their second league fixture of the season, they put on a very well put together performance against the favourites going into the game.
UoG lost by 17 points and conceded the majority of these to quick counter attacks that they were unable to defend on the back foot, but as a whole were able to put on a mighty performance that riled up the home crowd.
The team left optimistic for the future given how little time this new team had been training together and building their new shape.
Since then, the team are yet to take another league win in what was a somewhat difficult ending to semester one of the season for the club. They are currently sat at the bottom of the league table and have taken some very tough away losses.
The highlight of the season so far is the club’s charity fundraiser ‘Tash Bash’ which took place at the end of November. They were able to raise an incredible £2,500 for Movember. Not only is this a great achievement and contribution to an important cause, but was also a great opportunity to bond as a team.
Cornish-born prop James Sampson has had a stronger individual season this year than last, making his way into the first team and solidifying his place there, but had this to say about the season for the squad as a whole.
“In the tail end of 2022, the quality has dropped off due to a large number of player injuries and unavailability,” said Sampson.
Following the Christmas break, they are looking forward to starting fresh and can see Varsity on the horizon, they’ll be hoping to build some momentum now so that they’re best prepared to take on their rivals at the University of Worcester.
“As we come into the final three games of the season before Varsity, most of the boys are coming back from injury which is a big positive for us.”
In this tail end of the season, Sampson believes that there is ‘a lot to play for’ and that players will be “fighting for positions, hoping to shine so that they can claim Varsity spots”.
One way that the club has certainly improved this season is their social media output and online presence. Joshua Matheson took over as Social Media sec at the beginning of the season and has made the role his own.
Joshua has upped the quantity and especially quality of media that the club outputs, making content that the players love to see and share.
“Taking on the role of media sec for the club has been a great honour,” said Matheson.
“As an injured squad member it’s a way for me to still be involved in the club and still be connected with the lads and coaches.
“It’s something that the boys can look back on and hopefully be proud of.
“Personally I feel that this is just a start and we can explore new options to project it above and beyond the other clubs.”
A season of ups and downs, big changes and a more serious attitude. They return to training and games in the coming weeks, it will be interesting to see the reaction made by the players and the hopeful turnaround of results before Varsity.
