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Spartans are so close to winning Gloucestershire Premier title

Gloucester > Sport > Rugby Union

Author: Roger Jackson, Posted: Tuesday, 9th April 2019, 14:30

Ryan Barnett. Picture, Shaun Lafferty Ryan Barnett. Picture, Shaun Lafferty

A new chapter in Spartans’ remarkable recent story is set to be written on Saturday.

They travel to Frampton Cotterell needing just one point to clinch the Gloucestershire Premier title and with it promotion to Western Counties North.

They go into the final round of games four points clear of nearest challengers Bristol Saracens, who host Whitehall on Saturday, and because they have won 16 games to Bristol Saracens’ 14, a losing bonus point or a four-try bonus point will be enough.

Not that they will be going into the game thinking that way of course.

Head coach Ryan Barnett will have them primed and ready as they look for the win that would end their campaign on a real high.

“They’ll come at us all guns blazing but we’ll just treat it as a normal game,” said Barnett. “If there are three points to be taken early on we’ll take them.

“We won’t change our game, everyone knows we haven’t got the biggest front five.

“We play at a fast pace, throw the ball around and hope that the backs can score some tries.”

It’s a style of rugby that has certainly worked this season – they’ve lost only four of their 21 league games – and they’ve certainly enjoyed plenty of good times since former Coney Hill man Barnett joined the club three years ago.

They won Gloucestershire One in his first season – their second successive promotion – and also reached the final of the RFU Junior Vase at Twickenham.

“Quite a lot of the senior players finished after that season,” said Barnett, “so we had to bring in a number of younger players who have really evolved.

“When I joined the club I said my aim was to get back to Level 7 so if we do go up it will be a fantastic achievement for the club.”

Even though Bristol Saracens will be strongly fancied by many to gain a bonus-point win on Saturday it is hard to believe that Spartans will fall at the final hurdle even though Frampton Cotterell on their own patch present a stern test.

“We played them on the first day of the season and it was a hell of a game, it was very close,” Barnett said of his club’s 45-34 win.

A similar scoreline on Saturday would suit Spartans just fine, of course, but if they do go up Barnett knows it will be a challenge at the higher level.

“Yes, it will be tough,” he said, “but because we’ve got such a young squad, we’ve got to give it a go. Considering the history of the club and the talent we’ve got, Level 7 is where we should be.”

The runners-up in Gloucestershire Premier – Longlevens, who travel to bottom-of-the-table Gloucester Old Boys on Saturday, could still snatch second place – will play the runners-up of Somerset Premier in a play-off to decide the third team promoted to Western Counties North.

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