Old Cryptians face one of their toughest tests of the season when they entertain Counties 2 Gloucestershire North pace-setters Smiths this weekend.

But while it is obviously a very big game for the fourth-placed side, just as important for the club is the fact that they are hoping to get three senior men’s teams out on the pitch on what will be another Super Saturday.

That is no mean achievement in the current rugby climate, with a good number of clubs struggling to field even a 2^nd XV.

Old Cryptians 3^rd XV have had half-a-dozen games this season and chairman Eric Reddy is anxious that the club give an opportunity to play rugby to as many people as possible.

They are hosting Westbury-on-Severn in a Gloucester & District 2 game and Reddy, who is in his second season as chairman, said: “We want to keep players playing.”

Old Cryptians are certainly doing that because their 2^nd XV are competing in what is a competitive Counties 4 Gloucestershire North, an eight-strong division that includes the likes of Painswick, Longlevens 2nds and Cheltenham 2nds.

The club also have some 200 youngsters in their youth section with 43-year-old Reddy, a former Old Cryptians prop who these days coaches the under-12s, saying: “It’s massive, we’ve got teams from under-6s through to the under-16s.”

The club have also been playing host to Hardwicke and Quedgeley Ladies this season, a move that has gone so well that it is probable that they will be known as Crypt Ladies or Crypt Women next season.

So all in all, Old Cryptians are providing an opportunity for around 300 people to play rugby, which is certainly something to be applauded

But while there is clearly strength in depth at the club, as with all clubs they are judged – rightly or wrongly – on how their men’s flagship team are performing.

And happily they’re doing okay on that front, having won nine and drawn one of their 16 league games this season. They trail Smiths by 31 points having played one game fewer and Reddy, who stopped playing just before Christmas in 2021, said: “We’re doing well under the circumstances.

“We’ve had a big shift of players since last season. Quite a few of last season’s first team retired so we’ve brought in a lot of new players, it’s going okay.

“It was always going to be tough against Smiths, Gordon League and Coney Hill.

“We’d obviously like to get into the top three but I think we need to consolidate at the moment.”

Old Cryptians, who finished fifth in the old Gloucester Premier last season, celebrate their centenary in 2025 so a promotion next season or the season after would be very timely.

“That would be lovely,” admitted London-born Reddy, who first linked up with the club as a 12-year-old when he was a pupil at Severn Vale School.

He moved away from the area when he joined the Air Force but returned to the club in the mid-noughties and has been a stalwart figure on and off the pitch ever since.

Rugby is clearly a big part of his life and Old Cryptians will be hoping that remains the case for many years to come.