Mike Harper admits that he didn’t think he’d be playing rugby this season.

But not only is the 31-year-old still playing, he’s taken over as captain of Tewkesbury as they look to climb out of the newly formed Gloucestershire Two North.

“Last season was supposed to be my last,” he said. “I’d said I’d play one season for Joel Bond who was captain. I’d not played the season before.”

Apart from one season with Painswick, Harper, who was educated at Tewkesbury School, has been with Tewkesbury for the best part of a decade.

So why has he decided to take on the captaincy at this stage of his career?

“I thought I should give it a go,” he said. “We’ve got some good young lads coming through and it’s the responsibility of the older players to bring them on.”

So what sort of captain is he?

“I try to be a leader,” he said. “I want to lead some of the fantastic young talent we’ve got here.”

Harper is just one of a good number of hookers around the county who also captain their teams, so why do so many hookers end up as skipper?

“Hookers are right in there in the thick of things,” he said. “We’re leaders in the scrum, take ownership of the lineout and defensively are in the front line.

“Taking on the captaincy is just an extension of that.”

He also has plenty of experience because he’s been playing rugby for some two decades now. Married to Rosie and these days living in Cheltenham – he works as a sales director – Harper learned much of his rugby as a youngster at Bredon.

“It’s painful to say that because they are Tewkesbury’s big rivals,” chuckled Harper, who also had a spell at Old Richians and played rugby league at Lancaster University.

He has been a regular first-teamer for Tewkesbury over the years apart from when he ruptured his knee and can remember the days not so long ago when Tewkesbury were competing in Gloucester Premier.

Getting back to that level won’t happen overnight but the club remain ambitious.

“We wanted to win promotion last season,” said Harper. “Unfortunately that didn’t happen but we had some great results towards the end of the season.

“The bottom two divisions have been reshuffled but it’s ours to challenge for. It would be nice to have a good run in the national cup competition as well.”

Promotion and a good cup run would represent a very good season of course and would be a great way for Harper to bow out, if indeed he does call time on his rugby career at the end of the campaign.

And while that appears likely at this stage, it is by no means certain.

“This is probably my last season to be honest,” he said, before adding, “we’ll see how the season goes.”

Last season was meant to be his last, of course, but Harper enjoys playing for head coach Billy McGinty who played rugby league at the highest level back in the day and has coached rugby union at Worcester Warriors, Edinburgh and Sale.

“He’s the best coach I’ve ever played for,” said Harper. “He knows his stuff, he’s personable and he’s a good man manager, he knows how to treat players.

“We’ll see how the body is but it does hurt as you get older.”

Everybody connected with Tewkesbury Rugby Club will be hoping that Harper’s body isn’t hurting too much come the end of April!