Cheltenham Tigers chairman Steve Ratcliffe remains in upbeat mood despite the flagship men’s team’s struggles this season.

Their 46-46 draw at home to Royal Wootton Bassett 2nds on Saturday was the first time in 11 Regional 2 Severn games that they have avoided defeat and they are rooted to the bottom of the table.

Ratcliffe, a former player at the club, has been chairman for 27 years, so there are few things that surprise him, although he was obviously hoping for a better start to the campaign.

The one-time hooker, who went toe-to-toe with Ireland and British Lions legend Keith Wood in a Pilkington Cup tie against Harlequins in the mid-1990s, has never been afraid of a challenge, however, and he is certainly taking the positives from Saturday’s performance.

“I think it was an excellent result,” he said. “We scored two tries in the last five minutes and Jonty Culliford’s conversion with the last kick of the game got us the draw, it was a brilliant result.

“We were ahead with 15 minutes to go but it was nip and tuck all the way through. We’ve got a young side and confidence isn’t high but everybody worked hard.”

And those watching at the Newlands were certainly entertained.

“If you were impartial it was a great advert for rugby,” continued Ratcliffe. “Two quite young sides wanted to play rugby. It was end-to-end, it wasn’t a game for the defensive connoisseur!”

The result leaves Cheltenham seven points adrift of the two teams above them – Witney and Wootton Bassett – as they begin the second half of the campaign with a trip to eighth-placed Newbury Blues on Saturday.

Cheltenham are back in the South West Division this season after being switched to the Midlands Division for a couple of seasons by the RFU.

They finished sixth in the 12-strong Regional 2 Midlands West in 2024/25, winning 11 games, but Ratcliffe can trace this season’s problems, at least in part, back to the previous campaign.

“It’s a combination of things,” he said. “The second half of last season didn’t go particularly well.

“We had a couple of injuries, a couple of retirements and struggled with consistency of availability and that’s led into this season.”

Over the past 18 months, their two most recent players of the year – Stan Underhill and Omar Ly – have moved to National League clubs Cinderford and Dings Crusaders, while long-term injuries to experienced duo Sam Hancock and Brandon Springett at the start of this season have added to the difficulties.

“It is what it is,” Ratcliffe said. “Nobody wants to be in this position but we’ve got to pull together and get out of it.”

And Ratcliffe believes that head coach Will Crane and his team of Cam Jordan and Callum Brayley can plot a route to safety.

“I will always believe that, until it is mathematically impossible,” he said. “The next six or seven games are all winnable, if we win three or four of those we’re back in touch.

“We’ve got a lot of youngsters, and when I say youngsters I mean 19 to 23, and the attendance at training is very encouraging – 25-plus on Thursdays and 15 to 20 on Tuesdays.

“In the last three or four games we’ve made progress, if the players continue to listen to the coaches we can be competitive. We’ve got a good coaching set-up.”

Cheltenham were founded way back in 1889 and while a rugby club will always be judged largely on how the men’s flagship team are doing, Ratcliffe is keen to articulate the club’s many good news stories.

“Our women’s team are flying in Championship North 1, that’s Level 2, it’s a very good standard,” he said. “The 2nds are mid-table in the division below, they are doing really well in a tough league.

“Our minis and juniors section is thriving, membership is as high as its ever been, and the wheelchair rugby side that we started three years ago are playing in the Premiership and we’ve got another team playing at the level below.

“We started touch rugby seven or eight years ago and we’ve got 120 players, so we’ve got an awful lot of people at the club playing rugby.”

Their men’s 2^nd team are also top of Gloucester & District 1 after winning five of their opening six games and Ratcliffe would love to see some of those players kick on and become regulars in the 1^st XV in the weeks, months and years ahead.

Ratcliffe is also encouraged by others who will be looking for starting chances in the men’s senior team in the coming seasons.

“Chris Scott is coaching the Colts and we’ve got a great side coming through,” he said. “The under-16s look good, the under-14s are massive and the under-13s look like they have a really good squad.”

And there’s plenty of work being done off the pitch too.

“We have a significant planning application pending approval,” Ratcliffe said. “We want to build a sports hall predominantly for the wheelchair squad, build an extension and improvement to the corporate facilities, and construct a grandstand behind the dugouts.

“It’s all aspirational, but with extremely positive feedback from council members, local sports users and Sport England. The club are hopeful of full approval in the coming weeks.”

One thing that is certain is that Ratcliffe will remain a big part of the club going forward.

“I’m still enjoying it, it’s my passion,” he said. “I love rugby, I love the club, there’s a lot going on.”