Saints seem to be on the up. A combination of good /new coaching and a batch of academy players are making them the team with momentum in the level below Saracens and Exeter.
Great to see clubs still forming/re-forming. We've lost a few clubs down here in recent years and I think that the best chance of survival for some teams in Gloucester would be to merge.However, local passions/rivalries run hot, so I suspect that some clubs (eg the aforementioned Coney Hill) might fold rather than merge.
Quote from: UK Redsox on March 25, 2019, 11:55:06 AMGreat to see clubs still forming/re-forming. We've lost a few clubs down here in recent years and I think that the best chance of survival for some teams in Gloucester would be to merge.However, local passions/rivalries run hot, so I suspect that some clubs (eg the aforementioned Coney Hill) might fold rather than merge.in Birmingham teams are doing pretty well but a lot of the bigger clubs are struggling to maintain a 3rd or 4th team, not because of lack of numbers as such but rather because a lot of players can do 1 week in 2/3/4 and it's hard to build a club around that. We have a single team and have about 35-40 players on the books but plenty of them can only make 4-5 games a year so we need that many just to get a 15 out every week (after illness and injuries, and hang-overs). On top of that you have the age old issue of cliques forming and that driving players away who may or may not end up at a new club.