Ben Hawker will be an interested onlooker when Cheltenham North and Cheltenham face off for the Cheltenham Combination Senior Cup at Cheltenham Saracens today (4pm).

The Smiths captain has been sidelined for the second part of the campaign with a collarbone injury which has required a couple of operations but, as you’d expect, he has remained a keen supporter of all things Smiths Rugby over the past few months.

And he was mighty impressed with Smiths’ showing against Cheltenham in the Senior Cup semi-final this week, when the Gloucester Two club pushed their Western Counties North opponents all the way before going down 8-7.

Smiths will be playing in Gloucester One next season – alongside Cheltenham North – after finishing second in their league behind Ross-on-Wye, but playing Cheltenham, who this season are three divisions above them, was certainly a big challenge.

“That’s the reason we wanted to enter the Senior Cup,” said Hawker, “because we want to test ourselves against these teams. These games will help us get to the level we want to play at.”

Last season they went out of the Senior Cup to Cheltenham North, but again it was close after a strong second-half fightback by Smiths, and there is certainly plenty of ambition at a club who these days play their home games at the Prince of Wales Stadium and are being coached by former Gloucester, Worcester, Moseley and Old Patesians forward Chris Raymond.

“Gloucester One will be a tough league, we know that,” said Hawker. “But in the next five years we’d like to reach Gloucester Premier or even Western Counties North, although we know we’ve got to improve a lot as a team.”

And while that is a big step, it would certainly appear to be a realistic target if their performance at The Newlands on Tuesday is anything to go by.

“I was very impressed,” said Hawker. “A lot of the players stepped up. It was very wet and we couldn’t get the ball out wide, which is where we get most of our points.

“But the whole pack stepped up and second rows Ellis Hill and Adam Ginns were outstanding. It was a massive pack effort.

“We were brilliant until we got to the 10-metre line. That was where we made little mistakes and that’s what we need to improve if we are to become a better team.”

Hawker hopes to be fit and ready for the new season. He says he’ll be back for pre-season when he’ll also be club captain, although the coaches will decide who will captain the 1st XV and 2nd XV closer to the start of the new campaign.

Before that the club have their tour to Benidorm to look forward to, as well as their Dinner Dance and Casino Night at Cheltenham Racecourse on Saturday 19th May.