Cheltenham North head to Old Patesians tomorrow looking to spring an upset on their old rivals.

The two clubs meet in a Counties 2 Gloucestershire North clash – the first time they have played each other in the league for more than 30 years – and it’s fair to say that the home side will start as favourites.

The Pats have won six of their opening seven league games and are third in the 12-strong division, just a point behind leaders Gordon League.

The North are fourth, four points behind the Pats, but they have played a game more and their head coach Matt Coles admitted: “We’re going in as underdogs.”

The North won their opening four games but then lost their next three before returning to winning ways with a 31-0 success at home to bottom-of-the-table Old Cryptians on Saturday.

“We started out of the blocks really well,” said 56-year-old Coles, a former prop at Cheltenham Saracens and Cheltenham who took over as North’s head coach at the start of last season.

“Then we had a few injuries and unavailabilities, but you’ve got to work with what you’ve got. We’ve been working hard on the training field and not to concede any points against Old Cryptians was massive for us.

“That’s the first time for a long time, we’ve been leaking a lot of tries.”   

The North are the leading points scorers in the division – they've also conceded the second most points – and Coles continued: “We’re still trying to play running rugby but we’re trying to bring a bit more structure to our game.

“Danny Thomas, who is North through and through, has been coaching the backs.”

Coles played just the one game for the North back in the day when he helped out the late Jimmy Connolly who was head coach but he knows how much it means when the Pats and North collide.

“I played against the North and the Pats, I know all about the history,” he said. “It’s a massive game for both of us and we’ll definitely be up for it.

“We’ll be firing on all cylinders, we’ll be giving it 100 per cent.”

Old Patesians will be as well, of course, and their director of rugby Chris Downes has been encouraged by their start to the campaign after they won Gloucestershire 3 Counties North last season.

“We’ve started the season well,” said Downes. “We’ve had some tough away games which we’ve come through pretty well. We want to continue to get better.”

A win against their long-term rivals tomorrow would certainly confirm their position as title contenders and Downes isn’t concerned that his team haven’t played since 21^st October.

Their game at Brockworth was called off on Saturday and Downes said: “We’ll see but it didn’t bother us last season.

“It will be good to roll back out and it will be good to play against the North, we know all about the history between the two clubs.

“It’s a great league this year, it’s another derby.”

Tomorrow’s game kicks off at 2pm.