In-form Cheltenham Tigers Women go head-to-head with their closest rivals in a standout game at the Newlands on Sunday.

Buckingham Swan Ladies, like Cheltenham, are unbeaten in Championship North 1 having won eight of their nine games, although head coach Bee Mocellin’s free-scoring Cheltenham side are top of the 10-strong division as they have gained an extra bonus point.

The two teams drew 19-19 when they met in Buckingham back in October, a match the home side could have won.

“They missed a kick at goal right at the end, so we maybe got a bit lucky,” admitted Mocellin. “We weren’t at our best that day, I was disappointed with the result but as a team we do need a jolt sometimes and we got a jolt that day.”

That was Cheltenham’s third game of the season but they’ve certainly swept everything before them, before and since that game.

They’ve scored 450 points, including 59 tries, and conceded fewer than 70, so no wonder Mocellin is looking forward to the upcoming game and “a chance for revenge”.

“I’m confident,” she said. “We’re even more stingy than before when it comes to conceding points and we’re scoring a lot of tries.”

Mocellin, a former fly-half, is in her first season as head coach after being part of the coaching set-up for the previous four years.

“I’ve tried to encourage a more expansive, expressive style of play, although we do pride ourselves on our set-piece,” said the 44-year-old.

Cheltenham have enjoyed great success in recent times, of course, and in each of the past two seasons have triumphed in the end-of-season play-offs, which involve the top teams from Championship North 1 and Championship South 1.

And those play-off finals were special occasions because both finals were at Twickenham, with Cheltenham beating Thurrock Ladies last year and Leicester Tigers Women in 2023.

Cheltenham also beat Buckingham 60-5 the last time they visited Gloucestershire for a league game back in October 2023.

The Women's Championship is one level below the very top teams in the land.