They’re a fine club with good facilities, a nice pitch, and we’ve had some great battles over the years.
They’ve taught a couple of lessons at their place and strike the semi-professional balance well – especially when Ronnie (Mike) Regan was coaching them.
You were moved from one training area to the next in the pre-match warm-up, so you never had the chance to run through anything properly.
We thought it was a bit unnecessary to also be barred from the first-team pitch, and when the door handle came off the inside of the changing rooms at half-time you really had to chuckle!
I think he adopted every possible tactic he could to make our lives difficult, but it reflects the good elements and the dog of the Bristol club they are.
They’ve come off the back of a difficult trip to Rotherham, but lots of clubs have struggled up there in the rain and no-one want to be at Titans when it’s bucketing down.
Clifton will scrap and scrap to stay in National One and we must be mindful.
It’s cliché, but there truly are no bad teams at this level. Anyone can beat anyone on their day.
Fond memories of National Two journey
I do have one fond memory of Clifton from winning promotion there in 2018.
In that season we had worked so hard we almost expected to do it, and it was a case not of if, but when, so it was relief.
Even more vividly I remember the disagreement Seb and I had about whether it was appropriate on the way going down to have fish and chips on the coach!
It was a special day, and I believe I also got the winner of the Grand National.
Despite it being a great afternoon, strangely I’ve got more memories of our first season in National Two South, because we were desperate for wins to survive – a bit like Clifton now.
I remember a good one at Southend which began to turn the season round, Bury St Edmunds away as a sixth on the bounce, and then getting stuffed at Bishop’s Stortford with two games to go!
But then we beat Chinnor at home to secure survival before a 33-33 draw at Redruth.
‘Fantastic time for the club’
Since then, the last seven years have been fantastic for the club, and I believe we’ve progressed every season.
Supporters might not realise compared to when we were in a promotion battle but not quite getting there – the 2022/23 season when we got 114 points and Cambridge won stands out – but I’ll explain.
The three times we’ve finished second, I believe Richmond and Chinnor were the best side when they won it, though we were when Cambridge did.
I don’t bemoan it at all and reflect an old Spartan saying ‘a fox has lots of tricks, but a hedgehog has one it does very well’ – and their driving maul was superb that year.
One more point and we’d have gone up, but I’m not sure we could have sustained it because we had a maturing side who didn’t have a lot more in them.
Indeed, three seasons on, you could put together an extraordinarily talented 15 of players who’ve retired from Rams!
Trying to rebuild at Championship level would have been a huge challenge, and in hindsight, I’m not sure one we’d have been ready for.
For Andy (Lynch) and me it has always been about building the base, and off-the-field I think we’re getting there.
Everyone has worked incredibly hard with Mike Tewkesbury’s direction putting together a great Development squad, and we’re now getting the fixtures which benefit them such as last night at Oxford University.
‘You can’t fire a cannon from a canoe’
We’ve got a fine Under 23s, we support Berkshire U20s, our youth teams are getting better and the whole programme is working.
Those promising youngsters who have perhaps been missed or rejected by the Academy system are having a chance to show how good they are, and that’s a credit to everyone involved behind the scenes for the way they’re working with them.
There’s the old saying I often quote from Tom McNab: ‘You can’t fire a cannon from a canoe.’
You can’t, and I feel we have the base now to truly let the cannon fire – with the final reason the support.
It has been growing for a while now, which is a credit to the rugby we’ve played – we like to entertain and put pace on the ball with some very dangerous players.
I appreciate there’s frustration when there’s immature decision-making, but you can’t put a 35-year-old head on a 20-year pair of shoulders.
It doesn’t work like that and in life, experience comes from doing and making mistakes – we’ve all done it.
‘Incredible support’ augurs well
The facilities here are fantastic, and in a season where we haven’t been at the top, we’ve continued to have this incredible support.
The atmosphere is enjoyable and people come back after the first time they’ve come, which augurs well for the future.
With the new website, the animated scoreboard, new bar, new marquee, everything is there to make the experience for the supporter top draw.
They also get to be next to great, gladiatorial grass-roots rugby.
One of the constant feedback items I get is people can’t believe the standard, or the sound of the hits when they’re up close to it.
You can have a great day at Twickenham singing ‘Swing Low’ with 80,000 people, but you can’t rub shoulders with the players afterwards, and that makes this special.
Grounds team efforts have been superb
Hopefully we’ll have some luck with the weather today, but one group who deserve special praise now is our grounds team.
We’re close to getting to 40 days of rain and the ark to come out, but credit to Rod, Amanda and Mike who’ve kept the pitches playable.
People can’t imagine how much work goes into it, and they’re working hard whether we have too much rain or too much sun – very rarely is it perfect.
I wonder if one of the reasons the British people are so obsessed with the weather is the number of sports we play on grass – football, rugby, cricket, golf – but our guys are superb.
I can’t speak highly enough of them and all the volunteers for the tremendous effort they put in.
Brilliant Burns Night and Nigel to come
Finally, I’d like to reflect on a recent event and an upcoming one.
Burns Night was again superb and grows as a tradition in the club.
We do need to find a way of getting more of the first team there, but it always seems to fall before a game the next day and I’m not sure the coaches would be too happy with them getting drunk on decent single malt and eating haggis.
We’ve got Graeme Cook to thank for starting it and Shaun (Sheppard) for carrying it on. Hopefully it will grow again next year, and we have more than 100 there.
And I’m so looking forward to seeing Nigel Owens at OBR on Saturday, March 28. Clips of him sometimes crop up on YouTube or TikTok and he is by far the funniest referee.
His dialogue, the way he deals with players, is superb.
I love the way he’s also so open about his sexuality – when he’s saying ‘that’s not a straight as me’ you think fair play, he’s having a laugh.
I’ve not heard him live before, but it should be fantastic and it’s a tremendous price for a high-quality evening.
There’s a great speaker, a top chef – what’s not to like – so make sure you book your tickets.
