Ross Ruck has his eyes on the main prize as Cheltenham Civil Service enter the final couple of months of the rugby season.

And that prize is, quite simply, the Gloucestershire Two North title.

Service are locked in a three-way battle for the top spot with Tewkesbury and Bredon Star, but having played fewer games than their rivals they know that it is in their hands.

And if they do go on to win the title, Ruck, who has been captain for the past three or four years, wants them to kick on from there.

“Yes, I do,” he told The Local Answer. “Consistency is the key for us. We’re having a good season – we’ve lost only two games – but we do need to aim higher.

“We’ve got the set-up, we’ve got the players, we’ve got the coaches; we want to be playing at the same level as the teams we used to play like Smiths and Brockworth.”

Ruck, 32, has been playing for Service for some 10 years and believes that rubbing shoulders week in, week out with the teams currently playing in Gloucestershire Premier is a realistic aim.

And if that does happen then the versatile Ruck, with all his experience, is sure to have played a big part in realising that goal.

“I used to be a tighthead but then I lost a bit of weight and moved to the flank,” he explained. “But I can also throw in at the lineout so I’m a jack of all trades.”

Originally from Llanelli in West Wales, he moved to this part of the world with his family more than 20 years ago.

And when you consider where he’s from – and his surname! – you’d be forgiven for thinking he’d been throwing a rugby around since he could walk and talk, but that isn’t actually the case.

“I used to play football,” he said with a laugh. “I played for Cheltenham YMCA until I was under-14 or under-15.”

It was while he was a pupil at Bournside that he first started to play rugby regularly, although after he left school he took a break from the game before being encouraged to give it another go by his younger brother Rhys.

"He’s a utility back, he’s skinnier than me,” laughed Ross. “He plays on the wing or at 9. He invited me down to Service and my first game was against Cainscross.

“I was only supposed to play the last 10 minutes but our tighthead got injured after 20 minutes and I ended up playing 60 minutes. I couldn’t walk the next day!”

And while that was a tough day for Ruck there have been plenty of good ones since, most notably when they defeated Cheltenham Tigers 2nds to win the Cheltenham Combination Junior Cup in 2019.

“That was the first time we’d won a cup for something like 20 years,” said Ruck. “It showed what we are capable of.”

The club run two men’s teams, a women’s section and the Sharks, which are their juniors, and their facilities are top of the range.

Those facilities, off Tewkesbury Road, have always made Cheltenham Civil Service an attractive club, but while Ruck wants them to remain welcoming off the pitch, he wants them to be tougher on it.

“We need to make our home ground a fortress,” he said. “We need to be nastier on the pitch and a bit more intimidating, the opposition need to know they’ve been in a game.”

And although he wants the team to play on the front foot, he knows there is a lot more to winning games of rugby than simply upping the aggression levels.

“I like to think that we’re quite expansive,” he said. “When we’ve got the ball we like to draw the defence in and then attack out wide, we’ve got the boys out wide to do that.

“And we’re good at the set-piece, we’ve got a good line-out and a strong scrum.”

Ruck, an account manager – “You don’t have to be a civil servant to play for Cheltenham Civil Service,” he said – clearly thinks about the game, so what sort of captain is he?

“I think I’m quite meticulous in my decision-making during games and I’m quite confident in my decision-making,” he said. “I like to think I get on well with referees.

“I’m certainly not the loudest on the pitch, I like to think I’m quite chilled out and relaxed.

“We’ve got a fantastic coach in Paul Stickler, as players we just have to trust the process.”

And with Ruck leading the way, that’s something they are clearly doing.