Old Centralians are battling against a massive injury list as they look to make an impression in Regional 2 Severn this season.

“We’ve got 20 players unavailable because of injury,” said chairman Malcolm Price.

“We’ve got three players out who were injured in the pre-season warm-up game against Worcester, I’ve never known it so bad in all my time with the club.”

And Price has been with the club for a long, long time because he made his senior bow as a 15-year-old back in 1968 against St Mary Old Boys, a game that saw him on the winning side.

And yet, despite all the problems this season, captain Harry Preece and his men are unbeaten in their last four league games. They head to fifth-placed Chippenham on Saturday knowing that a win could lift them into the top three behind leaders Royal Wootton Bassett and Drybrook.

Old Centralians, who were relegated from Regional 1 South West at the end of 2022/23, made a slow start to the current campaign, losing two of their opening three games.

But they’ve picked up in recent weeks and are now sixth in the 12-strong division, a point adrift of Chippenham and just two behind third-placed Thornbury.

“Hopefully, we seem to have turned a corner,” said Price. “The injuries have knocked us sideways. Royal Wootton Bassett are a good side but if it hadn’t been for all the injuries I think we’d definitely be pushing for the top two.”

“As it is, if we can get some of the players back we should be pushing for the top three.”

There have certainly been no easy games for Old Centralians this season, with their 22-19 win over Chosen Hill 10 days ago a typically hard-fought affair.

They’ve also won 12-5 at Trowbridge, won by five points at Swindon (38-33) and they overcame Winscombe by just a single point (22-21).

They’ve also drawn 24-24 at home to Thornbury, one of only two home league games they’ve played so far. The other one saw them lose 38-24 to Royal Wootton Bassett.

And although the Wiltshire side are clearly looking the team to beat this season – they’ve won seven out of seven – Price remains optimistic about Old Centralians’ prospects.

“We want to play at the highest level we can,” he said.