With just over two weeks until their Varsity clash against Worcester, preparations are well and truly underway for the University of Gloucestershire’s Rugby team.

After a successful league season, winning the BUCS Rugby Union Western 1A last month, Director of Rugby Chris Downes and his squad are hopeful of going that step further and recording their fourth consecutive Varsity win on April 10th.

Downes said: “As fantastic as it is to win a league, and the guys celebrated it, the focus was straight away on Varsity.”

Despite winning the last three fixtures against Worcester, the squad understand the task at hand and are certain that complacency won’t come into play.

“We’ve been on the other side of this as well,” Downes said. “We were the under-dogs against Worcester and we managed to turn them over a couple of times when they were in a higher league.

“We’re fully aware that it is a one-off match and anything can happen.

“We’re very focused on ourselves and getting what we want to do right.”

A challenge the boss faces heading into the game is choosing his starting 15.

With new faces in the 30-man squad, competition for places is extremely high this year.

“I have absolutely no idea!” Downes revealed when asked if he knew who will start.

“I don’t want to single out any players. We deliberately took a bigger group this year because of the success we’ve had.

“We don’t want to turn up and expect to win, we need to put pressure on the players.

“We’re in a position where we could select any single one of them and every single player, including Jon (captain), has got pressure on him from another player.”

For 4th year student and team captain, Jon Lloyd, this will be his final Varsity game and he is keen to finish on a high.

“It’s probably my last game and you want a good send off,” Jon said. “Especially after being here for four years.

“It’s been a good few years for me and it’s vital to end that by getting the big win.”

It’s a stressful time of year for a lot of the third and fourth year students as they come to the end of their degrees, but Jon believes having the right support is vital in helping them through it.

“You train so much, and University work becomes less of a priority.

“Time management is really important and if you can do all that by yourself, great, but the majority of us can’t.

“Whether it’s your mate in the rugby team or your mum, dad, brother, you’ve just got to have that support.”

This years men’s and women’s Rugby Varsity matches against Worcester take place between 1-6pm on Wednesday April 10th at Moseley Rugby Club in Birmingham.

Tickets are available for University of Gloucestershire students on the SU website.

Date Written: March 25th 2019 | Part of assessed university work

The draw, which took place earlier today, saw Liverpool drawn against the Portuguese side.

The first leg will be played at Anfield on Tuesday April 9 with the Reds then travelling to Portugal the following week on Wednesday April 17.

Porto are a side Liverpool are familiar with, having faced them in last season’s Champions League round of 16.

The first leg of that tie took place at the Estádio do Dragão where an impressive display saw Klopp’s side take a 5-0 aggregate lead back to Anfield.

It was a game where Liverpool set down a real marker and the rest of Europe took note, with most naming the Merseyside club as the one they wanted to avoid.

Porto went on to win the Primeira Liga last season, their 28th league title, and they currently sit joint top this season, level on 60 points with S.L. Benfica.

Whilst Porto may not be a European heavyweight like Barcelona and Juventus, or a club Liverpool fans will have wanted to avoid, there is no doubt they will be a difficult test.

Having come through a difficult tie against Roma to reach the quarter-finals, Porto are here on merit and will no doubt want to put right the disappointing result from last season.

Klopp, as well as his players are fully aware that progression is not a guarantee and that they must be at their best in order to reach the semi-finals.

It wasn’t just the quarter-final draw that took place, but the semi-finals also.

Should Liverpool progress, they will face either Barcelona or Manchester United and will play the second leg at home.

However, should it be Liverpool and Manchester United that meet and if Manchester City also reach the last four, the Reds will have to play the first leg at Anfield to prevent both Manchester clubs playing at home on the same day.

It’s an exciting time for Liverpool as they continue the quest for their first Premier League title in almost 30 years.

But, the road to Madrid has well and truly begun.

Date written: March 16th 2019 | Example of news story

Two of Jurgen Klopp’s men are set to feature for the Three Lions when they take on the Czech Republic and Montenegro later this month in their EURO 2020 qualifiers.

Jordan Henderson, a Three Lions regular and one of Gareth Southgate’s most senior players, unsurprisingly, makes the cut.

Currently sitting on 48 caps, the midfielder could earn his 50th should he feature in both games.

Trent Alexander-Arnold earns another England call-up after receiving his first only last year.

The 20-year-old has 5 senior caps and appeared in last year’s World Cup following an impressive domestic campaign with Liverpool, reaching the Champions League Final.

Omissions include both Joe Gomez and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who are recovering from long-term injuries.

The former is set to be fit for return later this month and after an impressive start to the campaign at both centre-back and right-back, could still make Gareth Southgate’s squad for the Nations League finals this summer.

Adam Lallana also misses out despite being fit and firing for Liverpool.

The 30-year-old earned a lot of plaudits following his man of the match display against Burnley on Sunday.

Written: 13th March 2019 | Example of news story

Jack Grealish and James Chester were on the scoresheet for Aston Villa in a 2-0 victory over Bolton Wanderers at Villa Park.

An early goal from Grealish put the home side ahead, but they were unable to further their lead before the half-time whistle following an impressive display.

Bolton’s biggest chance of the first half came when Erhun Oztumer found the head of Jack Hobbs at the far post, but it was a terrific goal-line clearance from James Chester that denied the visitors an equaliser.

A free-kick won by John McGinn in the early stages of the second-half provided Villa with the opportunity to get a second and they duly delivered when a ball floated in by Grealish was headed home by Chester.

Dean Smith believed the win was deserved but stated after the game: “I didn’t think we were anywhere near our best. Of the four games we’ve had since I came in, that was probably the least dominant we’ve been.”

Aston Villa have only won two of the four games played since Smith took charge, suffering defeats away to QPR and Norwich City.

The Villa boss, however, was full of praise for Grealish and Chester: “Jack Grealish did just what was asked of him in getting in the box and scoring. And James Chester put in a really good performance.”

He also referred the goal line clearance from Chester in the first half, saying it was “like another goal.”

Bolton Wanderers endured a difficult first half and were fortunate not to be two down going into the break after Chester’s header was ruled offside.

The home side did eventually add to their lead in the 57th minute when a Grealish free kick once again found the head of Chester, this time with the offside flag staying down.

When discussing his team’s performance, Phil Parkinson said: “we had the chances. One cleared off the line and a lot of scrambles in the box.”

“Conceding so early was disappointing. Was it concentration levels or was it a good link-up play between Abraham and Grealish? Probably a bit of both.”

The Bolton boss was left aggrieved with the refereeing decisions he believed went against his team.

He questioned: “how has the ref has given a free-kick? I’m gobsmacked. Joe Williams has won the ball cleanly with a great tackle.”

Following the victory, Aston Villa are now 13th in the Championship on 21 points, whereas Bolton sit down in 19th on just 16 points.

Aston Villa now face a difficult test away to 6th place Derby County, with Frank Lampard’s side unbeaten in 6 in the Championship.

Bolton Wanderers will be at home to Swansea City for match day 17 with the South Wales side sitting 9th in the table on 23 points.

Date Written: 2/11/2018 | Submitted as part of an assessed portfolio in my first year of university.