When The Local Answer spoke to Leigh Glazebrook, Stow-on-the-Wold’s player/chairman for the previous two seasons, Gloucestershire was in the grip of a heatwave and pre-season training was about to start.

For obvious reasons it’s many rugby players’ least favourite time of year and yet Glazebrook was very relaxed.

Why? Because after close on 30 years playing for the club since the age of nine, he has dropped ‘player’ from his job title and is now concentrating on just being chairman of the Southern Counties North club.

“I retired at the end of last season,” the front row forward explained. “The aches and pains started creeping in to the working week!”

There were aches and pains for the flagship team as well last season as they finished third from bottom in their division with just six wins from 22 games.

Tim Peachey and Craig Chapman took over as joint coaches part way through the campaign and they have agreed to continue in their roles this season, something that has delighted Glazebrook.

“They’re both former captains of the club so we’ve gone in-house,” explained Glazebrook, who is an estate agent. “They know the club and how it works and we want to improve the communication between the coaches and the players.

“That will improve morale at the club which should in turn bring greater commitment and with it better rugby.”

Both Peachey and Chapman are former back row players.

“They know how to manage players,” continued Glazebrook. “Commitment is a huge problem throughout rugby. Last season we used 47 first-team players.

“When Tim was captain a few seasons ago and we won all 20 of our games to win promotion to Southern Counties North we used just 27.

“I was one of those. When you’re on a winning streak everyone wants to play.”

Peachey captained the side for a couple of seasons and played for the club up until a couple of years ago while Chapman led the side for three seasons and even played one game in 2017/18 when the club were short of numbers.

Another back row – Dan Salvage – has taken on the captaincy and Glazebrook added: “He’s been with us two or three seasons and is a good player. He’s a man of few words but leads from the front.”

And Glazebrook is certainly hoping for an improvement on last season’s performances.

“If we finish third from bottom again that will be a failure,” he said. “Last season was a bit of a transitional one. A lot of the older players have now retired and we’ve got a lot of youngsters coming through.

“There were about six 18 to 21 year olds who became fixtures in the side and it’s time for them to grow and mature.

“I think we have to aim to finish in mid-table or above. On a good day and with player availability there is no reason why we can’t mix it with the big teams in the league.

“It all starts with regular commitment. We want to build the team ethos that we had when we won 20 out of 20 and build a really good squad.

“And with the new coaching team and the new players coming through there’s no reason why we can’t.”

And Glazebrook will be happy to be cheering them on from the sidelines whenever he can.

“It’s my time to be standing on the balcony with a beer in my hand,” he chuckled.