Four games into the new season and Norton Rugby Club have yet to play a home fixture.

They’re hoping that’s going to change on Saturday when Widden Old Boys are scheduled to come come calling for what has become an eagerly-awaited Counties 3 Gloucestershire North clash.

“The problem has been our pitch, it’s bone-hard,” said Norton director of rugby Neil Carpenter.

“We’ve had to reverse a couple of our fixtures but hopefully we’ll be okay to play on Saturday, although we’d still like some more rain.”

Norton have won one of their opening four games and currently sit 10^th in the 12-strong division.

The win was at Chosen Hill 2nds – they won 7-0 – and remarkably, 54-year-old Carpenter, a loosehead prop, has featured in their three other games.

“I’m still suffering for it now,” he laughed. “I played the full 80 minutes against Stroud, I went on against Tewkesbury and I went on for the last 15 minutes against Old Patesians for old time’s sake.”

Carpenter, who was at Cheltenham North for 38 years before linking up with Norton around a year ago, is hoping he won’t be needed against a Widden side who have started the season well with three wins from four.

That’s taken them to sixth spot, five points behind leaders Old Pats with a game in hand, but Carpenter is in upbeat mood ahead of Saturday’s game.

“We’ve got a good bunch of lads,” he said. “We’ve got some very good players, a few ex-North players, we play some good rugby.

“We want to do as well as we can, it’s starting to come together a bit. We did well last season, we finished mid-table in the old Gloucestershire Two North but we could have finished much higher.”

Carpenter, who was heading for the gym when he spoke to The Local Answer, said that Norton had a regular squad of about 30 players “plus a few others who haven’t signed”.

“We’ve got the potential to get a 2^nd team out,” he said.

Carpenter is also enthused by the mixed ability rugby sessions that the club have introduced.

“They take place on a Tuesday evening,” said Carpenter. “To see the joy on their faces is brilliant, we’ve got some good young lads, they’re all under-18s.

“We teach them the basics of passing and catching, it’s good to see them running around.

“We need a few more players, we’ve only got five or six, but hopefully more will come along.”