One of the fiercest rivalries in sport in and around Gloucestershire will be re-ignited at the weekend.

Old Patesians and Cheltenham North, who were both founded more than a century ago, go head-to-head in a league game for the first time in more than 30 years on Saturday.

They meet in an eagerly-anticipated Counties 2 Gloucestershire North game at Everest Road and, as was the case in the late 80s and early 90s when league rugby was first introduced, there will be thrills and spills aplenty before the league points are won and lost.

The Pats and the North were the ‘big two’ in the Cheltenham and district Combination back in the day and Saturday’s game has stirred many memories from clashes of yesteryear.  

“There was always a massive rivalry between the two clubs,” recalled Jason Hyde, a hooker who captained both the Pats and the North.

“Some of the games could be quite ferocious, it meant a lot to both clubs.”

Hyde, who is now 51, is hoping to be at the game on Saturday, a game that will bring back many happy memories for him – he made his first-team debut for the Pats in the most recent league meeting between the two clubs at the back-end of the 1991/92 season.

“It was at Stoke Road and we won the game to win the Gloucester 1 title,” he said. “I remember it was a great game, although it wasn’t a pretty game!”

The two teams have met on a number of occasions in the intervening years in the end-of-season Cheltenham Combination Senior Cup competition but with league rugby now the priority for all clubs, Hyde is certainly looking forward to Saturday’s game.

“I joined the Pats in 1989,” said the one-time Pate’s Grammar School pupil. “I was captain from 1997 to 1999 and I was there until I was 33/34.”

He was a big part of a hugely successful period for the club, a period that saw them climb rapidly through the divisions while also enjoying that great day out at Twickenham in 2001 when they won the RFU Intermediate Cup, with a thrilling 25-24 win over Blaydon.

The North also climbed the divisions during this period – albeit not quite as quickly as the Pats – and they also reached the last four of the Intermediate Cup in the mid-noughties.

Both clubs have dropped back down the divisions in recent times and while Hyde spent the majority of his career with Pats, he looks back with great fondness on his two-and-a-half seasons with Cheltenham North.

“Paul Morris was coaching at the North and a few of us followed him,” explained Hyde. “Myself, Stecky [Jon Steckbeck], Will Morgan, Matt Dawson.

“We were all coming to the end of our careers but we still wanted to play some good, competitive rugby. I played with some great players at the North – Woody [John Wood], Capper [Neil Carpenter] – I really enjoyed it.

“I captained the club in my second season and was captain again in my third season before I got injured.”

And it was an injury that was to end his career because Hyde broke his neck in a game against Stroud just before Christmas, not that he was aware that he’d sustained such a serious injury.

“I remember saying to Paul [Morris] that I had to come off because I couldn’t lift my arms above my head to throw the ball in at the lineout,” said dad-of-two Hyde, who is married to Shelley.

“But that night we went out for the club’s Christmas do, I was doing head spins on the dance floor!

“The next day I was in A&E and then I was taken to Frenchay. They said I’d be there for four days but I ended up being there for six weeks because I caught MRSA.

“At one stage my wife was told I had only 24 hours to live!”

Hyde, who lives in Prestbury and works in the energy sector, is fighting fit these days and he continued: “After what happened to me I live every day to the full.”

He has very little involvement in rugby these days – “I’m not a good watcher,” he said – but he’ll certainly enjoy Saturday’s game.